HOLLAND 


Aa"D  Its  People 


BY 


EDMONDO   DE   AMICIS 

Author  of  '■Constantinople^''  ''Studies  of  Paris^^  <tc.,  <tc. 


TIi,-A.lTSZi-A-TEID    IFK^OOVE    THE    TTJiJlLtXJiJJiT 


BT 


CAROLINE   TILTON 


,^^E  LI 


%^ 


OF   THE 


■^ilFOU^"^ 


NEW  YORK 
G.    P.    PUTNAM'S   SONS 

27    &    29    W,    23D   ST. 

1881 


^ 


k' 


Copyright  bv 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

i88i 


///3  3- 


Press  of 

C,  P,  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York 


fr 


CONTENTS 


Holland     • 

1                             •                             •                             4 

1 

Zealand.     ,  . 

t                             •                             •                             < 

.      17 

Rotterdam  .             , 

»                             •                             •                             < 

.      37 

Delft           .             , 

»                                •                               •                               4 

.      94 

■rHE  Hagmte 

•                                • 

•    125 

Leyden        .             , 

1                                •'                                •                                < 

.    205 

Haarlem 

•                                • 

.    224 

Amsterdam 

.    244 

Utrecht 

»                      a                      •                       « 

.     272 

Broek           .             . 

- 

.     284 

Zaandam      • 

•                       •                      i 

.     301 

Alkmaar     « 

•                       • 

.    311 

Helder 

»                       •                       •                       < 

.    326 

The  Zuyder  Zee 

>                       •                       •                       < 

.    342 

Friesland  ,             , 

1                       •                       •                      « 

.    355 

Groningen  . 

•                       •                       •                      < 

.    382 

From  Groningen  '. 

ro  Arnhem      .             , 

.    401 

^  OF   THE  ^A 

jniversity' 


HOLLAND 


Whoever  looks  for  the  first  time  at  a  large  map  of 
Holland,  wonders  that  a  country  so  constituted  can  con- 
tinue to  exist.  At  the  first  glance,  it  is  difficult  to  say 
whether  land  or  water  predominates,  or  whether  Holland 
belongs  most  to  the  continent  or  to  the  sea.  Those  broken 
and  compressed  coasts,  those  deep  bays,  those  great  rivers 
that,  losing  the  aspect  of  rivers,  seem  bringing  new  seas 
to  the  sea;  and  that  sea,  which,  changing  itself  into 
rivers,  penetrates  the  land  and  breaks  it  into  archipela- 
goes ;  the  lakes,  the  vast  morasses,  the  canals  crossing 
and  recrossing  each  other,  all  combine  to  give  the  idea  of 
a  country  that  may  at  any  moment  disintegrate  and  dis- 
appear. Seals  and  beavers  would  seem  to  be  its  rightful 
inhabitants ;  but  since  there  are  men  bold  enough  to  live 
in  it,  they  surely  cannot  ever  sleep  in  peace. 


2  HOLLAND, 

These  were  my  thoughts  as  I  looked  for  the  first  time  at 
a  map  of  Holland^  aud  experienced  a  desire  to  know  some- 
thing about  the  formation  of  so  strange  a  country ;  and 
as  that  which  I  learned  induced  me  to  write  this  book,  I 
put  it  down  here^  with  the  hope  that  it  may  induce  others 
to  read  it. 

What  sort  of  a  country  Holland  is_,  has  been  told  by 
many  in  few  words. 

Napoleon  said  that  it  was  an  alluvion  of  French  rivers, 
— the  Rhine,  the  Scheldt,  and  the  Meuse, — and  with  this 
pretext  he  added  it  to  the  empire.  One  writer  has  defined 
it  as  a  sort  of  transition  between  land  and  sea.  Another, 
as  an  immense  crust  of  earth  floating  on  the  water. 
Others,  an  annex  of  the  old  continent,  the  China  of 
Europe,  the  end  of  the  earth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
ocean,  a  measureless  raft  of  mud  and  sand ;  and  Phillip  II. 
called  it  the  country  nearest  to  hell. 

But  they  all  agreed  upon  one  point,  and  all  expressed 
it  in  the  same  words : — Holland  is  a  conquest  made  by 
man  over  the  sea — it  is  an  artificial  country — the  Hol- 
landers made  it — it  exists  because  the  Hollanders  pre- 
serve it — it  will  vanish  whenever  the  Hollanders  shall 
abandon  it. 

To  comprehend  this  truth,  we  must  imagine  Holland  as 
it  was  when  first  inhabited  by  the  first  German  tribes 
that  wandered  away  in  search  of  a  country. 

It  was  almost  uninhabitable.  There  were  vast  tem- 
pestuous lakes,  like  seas,  touching  one  another;  morass 
beside  morass ;  one  tract  covered  with  brushwood  after 
another ;   immense   forests   of   pines,   oaks,   and   alders. 


HOLLAND.  3 

traversed  by  herds  of  wild  horses;  and  so  thick  were 
these  forests  that  tradition  savs  one  could  travel  lca";ues 

4/  <-J 

passing  from  tree  to  tree  without  ever  putting  foot  to 
the  ground.  The  deep  bays  and  gulfs  carried  into  the 
heart  of  the  country  the  fury  of  the  northern  tempests. 
Some  provinces  disappeared  once  every  year  under  the 
waters  of  the  sea,  and  were  nothing  but  muddy  tracts, 
neither  land  nor  water,  where  it  was  impossible  either 
to  walk  or  to  sail.  The  large  rivers,  without  sufficient 
inclination  to  descend  to  the  sea,  wandered  here  and 
there  uncertain  of  their  way,  and  slept  in  monstrous  pools 
and  ponds  among  the  sands  of  the  coasts.  It  was  a  sinister 
place,  swept  by  furious  winds,  beaten  by  obstinate  rains, 
veiled  in  a  perpetual  fog,  where  nothing  was  heard  but 
the  roar  of  the  sea,  and  the  voices  of  wild  beasts  and 
birds  of  the  ocean.  The  first  people  who  had  the  courage 
to  plant  their  tents  there,  had  to  raise  with  their  own 
hands  dykes  of  earth  to  keep  out  the  rivers  and  the  sea, 
and  lived  within  them  like  shipwrecked  men  upon  desolate 
islands,  venturing  forth  at  the  subsidence  of  the  waters 
in  quest  of  food  in  the  shape  of  fish  and  game,  and 
gathering  the  eggs  of  marine  birds  upon  the  sand. 

Csesar,  passing  by,  was  the  first  to  name  this  people. 
The  other  Latin  historians  speak  with  compassion  and 
respect  of  those  intrepid  barbarians  who  lived  upon  a 
"  floating  land,-*^  exposed  to  the  intemperance  of  a  cruel 
sky,  and  the  fury  of  the  mysterious  northern  sea ;  and 
the  imagination  pictures  the  Roman  soldiers,  who,  from 
the  heights  of  the  uttermost  citadels  of  the  empire,  beaten 
by  the  waves,  contemplated  with  wonder  and  pity  those 


4  MOLLAND. 

wandering  tribes  upon  their  desolate  land^  like  a  race 
accursed  of  heaven. 

Now_,  if  we  remember  that  such  a  region  has  become 
one  of  the  most  fertile,  wealthiest,  and  best  regulated  of 
the  countries  of  the  world,  we  shall  understand  the  justice 
of  the  saying  that  Holland  is  a  conquest  made  by  man. 
But,  it  must  be  added,  the  conquest  goes  on  for  ever. 

To  explain  this  fact,  to  show  how  the  existence  of 
Holland,  in  spite  of  the  great  defensive  works  constructed 
by  the  inhabitants,  demands  an  incessant  and  most  peri- 
lous struggle,  it  will  be  enough  to  touch  here  and  there 
upon  a  few  of  the  principal  vicissitudes  of  her  physical 
history,  from  the  time  when  her  inhabitants  had  already 
reduced  her  to  a  habitable  country. 

Tradition  speaks  of  a  great  inundation  in  Friesland  in 
the  sixth  century.  From  that  time  every  gulf,  every 
island,  and,  it  may  be  said,  every  city  in  Holland  has  its 
catastrophe  to  record.  In  thirteen  centuries,  it  is  re- 
corded that  one  great  inundation,  besides  smaller  ones, 
has  occurred  every  seven  years ;  and  the  country  being 
all  plain,  these  inundations  were  veritable  floods.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  sea  destroyed 
a  part  of  a  fertile  peninsula  near  the  mouth  of  the  Ems, 
and  swallowed  up  more  than  thirty  villages.  In  the  course 
of  the  same  century,  a  series  of  inundations  opened  an 
immense  chasm  in  northern  Holland,  and  formed  tlie 
Zuyder  Zee,  causing  the  death  of  more  than  eighty  thou- 
sand persons.  In  1421  a  tempest  swelled  the  Meuse,  so 
that  in  one  night  the  waters  overwhelmed  seventy-two 
villages  and  one  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.     In  1532 


HOLLAND.  5 

the  sea  burst  the  dykes  of  Zealand^  destroying  hundreds 
of  villages,  and  covering  for  ever  a  large  tract  of  country. 
In  1570  a  storm  caused  another  inundation  in  Zealand, 
in  the  province  of  Utrecht,  Amsterdam  was  invaded  by 
the  waters,  and  in  Frieslaud  twenty  thousand  people  were 
drowned.  Other  great  inundations  took  place  in  the 
seventeenth  century ;  two  terrible  ones  at  the  beginning 
and  the  end  of  the  eighteenth;  one  in  1825  that  desolated 
North  Holland,  Friesland,  Over-Yssel,  and  Gueldres;  and 
another  great  one  of  the  Rhine,  in  1855,  which  invaded 
Gueldres  and  the  province  of  Utrecht,  and  covered  a  great 
part  of  North  Brabant.  Besides  these  great  catastrophes, 
there  happened  in  different  centuries  innumerable 
smaller  ones,  which  would  have  been  famous  in  any 
other  country,  and  which  in  Holland  are  scarcely  remem- 
bered ;  like  the  rising  of  the  lake  of  Harlem,  itself 
the  result  of  an  inundation  of  the  sea;  flourishing  cities 
of  the  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee  vanished  under  the  waters; 
the  islands  of  Zealand  covered  again  and  again  by  the  sea, 
and  again  emerging ;  villages  of  the  coast,  from  Helder 
to  the  mouths  of  the  Meuse,  from  time  to  time  inundated 
and  destroyed ;  and  in  all  these  inundations  immense 
loss  of  life  of  men  and  animals.  It  is  plain  that  miracles 
of  courage,  constancy  and  industry,  must  have  been 
accomplished  by  the  Hollanders,  first  in  creating  and 
afterwards  in  preserving  such  a  country.  The  enemy 
from  which  they  had  to  wrest  it,  was  triple  :  the  sea,  the 
lakes,  the  rivers.  They  drained  the  lakes,  drove  back  the 
sea,  and  imprisoned  the  rivers. 

To  drain  the  lakes  the  Hollanders  pressed  the  air  into 


6  HOLLAND. 

their  service.  The  lakes^  the  marshes,  were  surrounded  by 
dykes,  the  dykes  by  canals ;  and  an  army  of  windmills, 
putting  in  motion  force-pumps^  turned  the  water  into  the 
canals,  which  carried  it  ofiP  to  the  rivers  and  the  sea. 
Thus  vast  tracts  of  land  buried  under  the  water_,  saw  the 
sun,  and  were  transformed,,  as  if  by  magic,  into  fertile 
fields,  covered  with  villages,  and  intersected  by  canals  and 
roads.  In  the  seventeenth  century,  in  less  than  forty 
years,  twenty-six  lakes  were  drained.  At  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century,  in  North  Holland  alone,  more  than 
six  thousand  hectares  (or  fifteen  thousand  acres)  were  thus 
redeemed  from  the  waters;  in  South  Holland,  before  1844, 
twenty-nine  thousand  hectares ;  in  the  whole  of  Holland, 
from  1500  to  1858,  three  hundred  and  fifty-five  thousand 
hectares.  Substituting  steam-mills  for  windmills,  in 
thirty-nine  months  was  completed  the  great  undertaking 
of  the  draining  of  the  lake  of  Harlem,  which  measured 
forty-four  kilometres  in  circumference,  and  for  ever 
threatened  with  its  tempests  the  cities  of  Harlem,  Amster- 
dam, and  Leyden.  And  they  are  now  meditating  the 
prodigious  work  of  drying  up  the  Zuyder  Zee,  which 
embraces  an  area  of  more  than  seven  hundred  square 
kilometres. 

The  rivers,  another  internal  enemy,  cost  no  less  of 
labour  and  sacrifice.  Some,  like  the  Rhine,  which  lost 
itself  in  the  sands  before  reaching  the  sea,  had  to  be  chan- 
nelled and  defended  at  their  mouths,  against  the  tides,  by 
formidable  cataracts ;  others,  like  the  Meuse,  bordered  by 
dykes  as  powerful  as  those  that  were  raised  against  the 
ocean ;  others,  turned  frorfi  their  course ;  the   wandering 


HOLLAND.  7 

waters  gatbered  together;  the  course  of  the  affluents 
regulated ;  the  waters  divided  with  rigorous  measure  in 
order  to  maintain  that  enormous  mass  of  liquid  in 
equilibrium,  where  the  slightest  inequality  might  cost  a 
province;  and  in  this  way  all  the  rivers  that  formerly 
spread  their  devastating  floods  about  the  country,  were 
disciplined  into  streams  and  constrained  to  do  service. 

But  the  most  tremendous  struggle  was  the  battle  with 
the  ocean.  Holland  is  in  great  part  lower  than  the  level 
of  the  sea ;  consequently,  everywhere  that  the  coast  is  not 
defended  by  sand-banks,  it  has  to  be  protected  by  dykes. 
If  these  interminable  bulwarks  of  earth,  granite,  and 
wood  were  not  there  to  attest  the  indomitable  courage 
and  perseverance  o£  the  Hollanders,  it  would  not  be 
believed  that  the  hand  of  man  could,  even  in  many  cen- 
turies, have  accomplished  such  a  work.  In  Zealand  alone 
the  dykes  extend  to  a  distance  of  more  than  four  hundred 
kilometres.  The  western  coast  of  the  island  of  Walcheren 
is  defended  by  a  dyke,  in  which  it  is  computed  that  the 
expense  o£  construction  added  to  that  of  preservation,  if 
it  were  put  out  at  interest,  would  amount  to  a  sum  equal  in 
value  to  that  which  the  dyke  itself  would  be  worth  were  it 
made  of  massive  copper.  Around  the  city  of  H elder,  at  the 
northern  extremity  of  North  Holland,  extends  a  dyke  ten 
kilometres  long,  constructed  of  masses  of  Norwegian 
granite,  which  descends  more  than  sixty  metres  into  the 
sea.  The  whole  province  of  Friesland,  for  the  length  of 
eighty-eight  kilometres,  is  defended  by  three  rows  of  piles 
sustained  by  masses  of  Norwegian  and  German  granite. 
Amsterdam,  all  the  cities  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  and  all  the 


8  HOLLAND. 

islands — ^fragments  of  vanislied  lands — which  are  strung 
like  beads  between  Friesland  and  North  Holland,  are  pro- 
tected by  dykes.  From  the  mouths  of  the  Ems  to  those 
of  the  Scheldt  Holland  is  an  impenetrable  fortress,  of 
whose  immense  bastions  the  mills  are  the  towers,  the 
cataracts  are  the  gates,  the  islands  the  advanced  forts ; 
and  like  a  true  fortress,  it  shows  to  its  enemy,  the  sea, 
only  the  tops  of  its  bell-towers  and  the  roofs  of  its 
houses,  as  if  in  defiance  and  derision. 

Holland  is  a  fortress,  and  her  people  live  as  in  a  fortress, 
on  a  war-footing  with  the  sea.  An  army  of  engineers, 
directed  by  the  Minister  of  the  Interior,  spread  over  the 
country,  and  ordered  like  an  army,  continually  spy  the 
enemy,  watch  over  the  internal  waters,  foresee  the  bursting 
of  the  dykes,  order  and  direct  the  defensive  works.  The 
expenses  of  the  war  are  divided;  one  part  to  the  State, 
one  part  to  the  provinces ;  every  proprietor  pays,  besides 
the  general  imposts,  a  special  impost  for  the  dykes,  in 
proportion  to  the  extent  of  his  lands  and  their  proximity 
to  the  water.  An  accidental  rupture,  an  inadvertence, 
may  cause  a  flood ;  the  peril  is  unceasing ;  the  sentinels 
are  at  their  posts  upon  the  bulwarks ;  at  the  first  assault 
of  the  sea,  they  shout  the  war-cry,  and  Holland  sends 
men,  material,  and  money.  And  even  when  there  is  no 
great  battle,  a  quiet,  silent  struggle  is  for  ever  going  on. 
The  innumerable  mills,  even  in  the  drained  districts,  con- 
tinue to  work  unresting,  to  absorb  and  turn  into  the 
canals  the  water  that  falls  in  rain  and  that  which  filters  in 
from  the  sea.  Every  day  the  cataracts  of  the  bays  and  rivers 
close  their  gigantic  gates  against  the  high  tide  trying  to  rush 


HOLLAND.  9 

into  the  heart  of  the  land.  The  work  of  strengthening 
dykes^  fortifying  sand-banks  with  plantations,  throwing 
out  new  dykes  where  the  banks  are  low,  straight  as  great 
lances,  vibrating  in  the  bosom  of  the  sea,  and  breaking 
the  first  impetus  of  the  wave,  is  for  ever  going  on.  And 
the  sea  externally  knocks  at  the  river  -  gates,  beats 
upon  the  ramparts,  growls  on  every  side  her  ceaseless 
menace,  lifting  her  curious  waves  as  if  to  see  the  land  she 
counts  as  hers,  piling  up  banks  of  sand  before  the  gates 
to  kill  the  commerce  of  the  cities,  for  ever  gnawing, 
scratching,  digging  at  the  coast;  and  failing  to  overthrow 
the  ramparts  upon  which  she  foams  and  fumes  in  angry 
efPort,  she  casts  at  their  feet  ships  full  of  the  dead,  that 
they  may  announce  to  the  rebellious  country  her  fury  and 
her  strength. 

In  the  midst  of  this  great  and  terrible  struggle  Holland 
is  transformed :  Holland  is  the  land  of  transformations. 
A  geographical  map  of  that  country  as  it  existed  eight 
centuries  ago  is  not  recognisable.  Transforming  the  sea, 
men  also  are  transformed.  The  sea,  at  some  points,  drives 
back  the  land :  it  takes  portions  from  the  continent, 
leaves  them,  and  takes  them  again ;  joins  islands  to  the 
mainland  with  ropes  of  sand,  as  in  the  case  of  Zealand ; 
breaks  off  bits  from  the  mainland  and  makes  new  islands, 
as  in  AVieringen ;  retires  from  certain  coasts  and  makes 
land  cities  out  of  what  were  cities  of  the  sea,  as  Leu» 
varde ;  converts  vast  tracts  of  plain  into  archipelagoes  of 
a  hundred  islets,  as  Biisbosch ;  separates  a  city  from  the 
land,  as  Dordrecht ;  forms  new  gulfs  two  leagues  broad, 
like  the  gulf  of  Dollart;   divides  two  provinces  with   a 


10  EOLLAND. 

new  sea^  like  Nortli  Holland  and  Friesland.  The  effect 
of  the  inundations  is  to  cause  the  level  of  the  sea  to  rise 
in  some  places  and  to  sink  in  others ;  sterile  lands  are 
fertilised  bv  the  slime  of  the  rivers,  fertile  lands  are 
changed  into  deserts  of  sand.  With  the  transformations 
of  the  waters  alternate  the  transformations  of  labour. 
Islands  are  united  to  continents^  like  the  island  of  Ame- 
land;  entire  provinces  are  reduced  to  island,  as  North 
Holland  will  be  by  the  new  canal  of  Amsterdam,  which  is 
to  separate  it  from  South  Holland ;  lakes  as  large  as  pro- 
vinces disappear  altogether,  like  the  lake  of  Beemster ; 
by  the  extraction  of  peat,  land  is  converted  into  lakes,  and 
these  lakes  are  again  transformed  into  meadows.  And 
thus  the  country  changes  its  aspect  according  to  the 
violence  of  nature  or  the  needs  of  men.  And  while  one 
goes  over  it  with  the  latest  map  in  hand,  one  may  be 
sure  that  the  map  will  be  useless  in  a  few  years, 
because  even  now  there  are  new  gulfs  in  process  of 
formation,  tracts  of  land  just  ready  to  be  detached  from 
the  mainland,  and  great  canals  being  cut  that  will  carry 
life  to  uninhabited  districts. 

But  Holland  has  done  more  than  defend  herself  against 
the  waters ;  she  has  made  herself  mistress  of  them,  and 
has  used  them  for  her  own  defence.  Should  a.  foreign 
army  invade  her  territory,  she  has  but  to  open  her  dj^kes 
and  unchain  the  sea  and  the  rivers,  as  she  did  against  the 
Romans,  against  the  Spaniards,  against  the  army  of 
Louis  XIV.,  and  defend  the  land  cities  with  her  fleet. 
Water  was  the  source  of  her  poverty,  she  has  made  it  the 
source  of  wealth.      Over  the  whole  country  extends  an 


HOLLAND.  11 

immense  net-work  of  canals  which  serve  both  for  the  irri- 
gation of  the  land  and  as  a  means  of  communication. 
The  cities,  by  means  of  canals,  communicate  with  the 
sea;  canals  run  from  town  to  town,  and  from  them  to 
villages,  which  are  themselves  bound  together  by  these 
watery  ways,  and  are  connected  even  to  the  houses 
scattered  over  the  country;  smaller  canals  surround  the 
fields  and  orchards,  pastures  and  kitchen-gardens,  serving 
at  once  as  boundary-wall,  hedge,  and  road-way ;  every 
house  is  a  little  port.  Ships,  boats,  rafts  move  about  in  all 
directions,  as  in  other  places  carts  and  carriages.  The 
canals  are  the  arteries  ot  Holland,  and  the  v/ater  her  life- 
blood. 

But  even  setting  aside  the  canals,  the  draining  of  the 
lakes,  and  the  defensive  works,  on  every  side  are  seen 
the  traces  of  marvellous  undertakings.  The  soil,  which 
in  other  countries  is  a  gift  of  nature,  is  in  Holland  a 
work  of  men^s  hands.  Holland  draws  the  greater  part 
of  her  wealth  from  commerce ;  but  before  commerce 
comes  the  cultivation  of  the  soil;  and  the  soil  had  to 
be  created.  There  were  sand-banks,  interspersed  with 
layers  of  peat,  broad  downs  swept  by  the  winds,  great 
tracts  of  barren  land  apparently  condemned  to  an  eternal 
stcrilitv.  The  first  elements  of  manufacture,  iron  and 
coal,  were  wanting;  there  was  no  wood,  because  the 
forests  had  already  been  destroyed  b}'  tempests  when 
agriculture  began;  there  was  no  stone,  there  were  no 
metals.  Nature,  says  a  Dutch  poet,  had  refused  all  her 
gifts  to  Holland ;  the  Hollanders  had  to  do  everything 
in  spite  of  nature.     They  began  by  fertilising  the  sand. 


\2  HOLLAND. 

In  some  places  they  formed  a  productive  soil  with  earth 
brought  from  a  distance,  as  a  garden  is  made ;  they 
spread  the  siliceous  dust  of  the  downs  over  the  too 
watery  meadows ;  they  mixed  with  the  sandy  earth  the 
remains  of  peat  taken  from  the  bottoms ;  they  extracted 
clay  to  lend  fertility  to  the  surface  of  their  lands ;  they 
laboured  to  break  up  the  downs  with  the  plough;  and 
thus  in  a  thousand  ways,  and  continually  fighting  off 
the  menacing  waters,  they  succeeded  in  bringing  Holland 
to  a  state  of  cultivation  not  inferior  to  that  of  more 
favoured  regions.  That  Holland,  the  sandy,  marshy 
country  that  the  ancients  considered  all  but  uninhabitable, 
now  sends  out  yearly  from  her  confines  agricultural  pro- 
ducts to  the  value  of  a  hundred  millions  of  francs,  pos- 
sesses about  one  million  three  hundred  thousand  head  of 
cattle,  and,  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  her  territory, 
may  be  accounted  one  of  the  most  populous  of  European 
states. 

It  may  be  easily  understood  how  the  physical  peculiarities 
of  their  country  must  influence  the  Dutch  people ;  and  their 
genius  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  character  of  Holland. 
It  is  sufficient  to  contemplate  the  monuments  of  their  great 
struggle  with  the  sea  in  order  to  understand  that  their 
distinctive  characteristics  must  be  firmness  and  patience, 
accompanied  by  a  calm  and  constant  courage.  That 
glorious  battle,  and  the  consciousness  of  owing  everything 
to  their  own  strength,  must  have  infused  and  fortified  in 
them  a  high  sense  of  dignity  and  an  indomitable  spirit  of 
liberty  and  independence.  The  necessity  of  a  constant 
struggle,  of  a  continuous  labour,  and  perpetual  sacrifices 


HOLLAND,  13 

in  defence  of  their  existence,  for  ever  taking  them  back 
to  a  sense  of  reality,  must  have  made  them  a  highly 
practical  and  economical  people;  good  sense  should  be 
their  most  salient  quality,  economy  one  of  their  chief 
virtues ;  they  must  be  excellent  in  all  useful  arts,  sparing 
of  diversion,  simple  even  in  their  greatness  ;  succeeding  in 
what  they  undertake,  by  dint  of  tenacity  and  a  thought- 
ful and  orderly  activity ;  more  wise  than  heroic ;  more 
conservative  than  creative ;  giving  no  great  architects  to 
the  edifice  of  modern  thought,  but  the  ablest  of  workmen, 
a  legion  of  patient  and  laborious  artisans.  And  by  virtue 
of  these  qualities  of  prudence,  phlegmatic  activity,  and 
the  spirit  of  conservatism^  they  are  ever  advancing, 
though  by  slow  degrees ;  they  acquire  gradually,  but 
never  lose  what  they  have  gained ;  holding  stubbornly  to 
their  ancient  customs;  preserving  almost  intact,  and 
despite  the  neighbourhood  of  three  great  nations,  their 
own  originality ;  preserving  it  through  every  form  of 
government,  through  foreign  invasions,  through  political 
and  religious  wars,  and  in  spite  of  the  immense  concourse 
of  strangers  from  every  country  that  are  always  coming 
among  them ;  and  remaining,  in  short,  of  all  the  northern 
races,  that  one  which,  though  ever  advancing  in  the 
path  of  civilisation,  has  kept  its  antique  stamp  most 
clearly. 

It  is  enough  also  to  remember  its  form  in  order  to  com- 
prehend that  this  country  of  three  millions  and  a  half  of 
inhabitants,  although  bound  in  so  compact  a  political 
union,  although  recognisable  among  all  the  other  northern 
peoples  by  certain  traits  peculiar  to  the  population  of  all 


14  HOLLAND. 

its  provinces,  must  present  a  great  variety.  And  so  it  is 
in  fact.  Between  Zealand  and  Holland  proper,  between 
Holland  and  Friesland^  between  Friesland  and  Gueldres, 
between  Groningen  and  Brabant_,  in  spite  of  vicinity  and 
so  many  common  ties,  there  is  no  less  difference  than 
between  the  more  distant  provinces  of  Italy  and  France  : 
difference  of  language,  costume,  and  character;  difference 
of  race  and  of  religion.  The  communal  regime  has  im- 
pressed an  indelible  mark  upon  this  people,  because  in  no 
other  country  does  it  so  conform  to  the  nature  of  things. 
The  country  is  divided  into  various  groups  of  interests 
organised  in  the  same  manner  as  the  hydraulic  system. 
Whence,  association  and  mutual  help  against  the  common 
enemy,  the  sea ;  but  liberty  for  local  institutions  and  forces. 
Monarchy  has  not  extinguished  the  ancient  municipal 
spirit,  and  this  it  is  that  renders  impossible  a  complete  fusion 
of  the  State,  in  all  the  great  States  that  have  made  the 
attempt.  The  great  rivers  and  gulfs  are  at  the  same 
time  commercial  roads  serving  as  national  bonds  between 
the  different  provinces,  and  barriers,  which  defend  old 
traditions  and  old  customs  in  each. 

But  however  wonderful  may  be  the  physical  history  of 
Holland,  her  political  history  is  still  more  so.  This  small 
territory,  invaded  from  the  beginning  by  different  tribes 
of  the  Germanic  races,  subjugated  by  the  Romans  and 
the  Franks,  devastated  by  the  Normans  and  by  the  Danes, 
desolated  by  centuries  of  civil  war  with  all  its  horrors, 
this  small  people  of  fishermen  and  traders,  saves  its  civil 
liberty  and  its  freedom  of  conscience  by  a  war  of  eighty 
years  against  the  formidable  monarchy  of  Philip  II.,  and 


HOLLAND,  15 

founds  a  republic  which  becomes  the  ark  of  salvation  to 
the  liberties  o£  all  the  worlds  the  adopted  country  of 
science,  the  Exchange  of  Europe,  the  station  for  the  com- 
merce of  the  world;  a  republic  which  extends  its 
domination  to  Java,  Sumatra,  Hindostan,  Ceylon,  New 
Holland,  Japan,  Brazil,  Guiana,  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  the  West  Indies,  and  New  York;  a  republic 
which  vanquishes  England  on  the  sea,  which  resists 
the  united  arms  of  Charles  II.  and  Louis  XIV.,  and 
which  treats  an  equal  terms  with  the  greatest  nations, 
and  is,  for  a  time,  one  of  the  three  Powers  that  decide  the 
fate  of  Europe. 

She  is  not  now  the  great  Holland  of  the  seventeenth 
century;  but  she  is  still,  after  England,  the  first  colonizing 
State  in  the  world ;  instead  of  her  ancient  greatness,  she 
has  tranquil  prosperity ;  she  restricts  herself  to  commerce 
acquired  by  agriculture ;  she  retains  the  substance  of  the 
republican  regime  although  she  has  lost  the  form ;  a 
family  of  patriot  princes,  dear  to  the  people,  governs  tran- 
quilly in  the  midst  of  her  liberties,  ancient  and  modern. 
There  is  wealth  without  ostentation,  freedom  without  in- 
solence, and  there  are  taxes  without  poverty.  She  is, 
perhaps,  of  all  European  states  the  one  where  there  is 
most  popular  education  and  least  corruption  of  manners. 
Alone,  at  the  extremity  of  the  continent,  occupied  with 
her  dykes  and  her  colonies,  she  enjoys  in  peace  the  fruits 
of  her  labours,  with  the  comforting  conviction  that  no 
people  in  the  world  have  conquered  at  the  price  of  greater 
sacrifices  liberty  of  conscience  and  the  independence  of 
the  State. 


16  HOLLAND. 

All  these  things  I  revolved  in  my  mind  to  the  stimula- 
tion of  my  curiosity,  as  at  Antwerp  one  fine  summer 
morning  I  went  on  board  the  ship  which  was  to  take  me 
by  the  way  of  the  Scheldt  to  Zealand,  the  most  mysterious 
of  the  provinces  of  the  low  countries 


ZEALAND. 


If  before  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  go  to  Holland  some 
professor  of  geography  had  stopped  me  in  the  street  and 
demanded  suddenly — Where  is  Zealand  ?  I  should  have 
remained  speechless ;   and  I  think  I  am  not  mistaken  in 
supposing  that  numbers  of  my  fellow-citizens  to  whom  the 
question  might  be  put  would  not  easily  find  an  answer. 
Zealand  is  a  mystery  even  for  the  Hollanders  themselves  ; 
very  few  of    them   have   been  there,  and  of  these  the 
greater  part  have  only  passed  through  it  in  a  boat ;  con- 
sequently it  is  seldom  spoken  of,  and  always  as  a  very 
distant  country.     The  first  words  that  reached  my  ears 
among  the  travellers  who  came  on  board  the  vessel  with 
me,  and  who  were  almost  all  Belgians  and  Dutch,  informed 
me  that  they  also  were  about  to  visit  that  province  for  the 
first  time ;  we  were  all,  therefore,  full  of  curiosity,  and  the 
ship  had  not  left  her  moorings  when  we  entered  into  con- 
versation, and  questions  which  no  one  could  answer  passed 
from  one  to  another. 


18  HOLLAND. 

The  ship  sailed  at  sunrise,  and  for  a  time  we  enjoyed 
the  spectacle  of  the  steeple  of  Antwerp  Cathedral,  made 
out  of  Mechlin  lace_,  as  Napoleon,  who  was  in  love  with  it, 
used  to  say ;  and  after  having  touched  at  the  fortress  of 
HL  ap<^Xille  and  the  village  of  Doel  we  came  out  of  Belgium 
and  entered  Zealand. 

At  the  moment  of  passing  for  the  first  time  the  frontier 
of  a  state,  although  it  is  evident  that  the  prospect  will 
not  change  all  at  once,  everyone  seems  to  imagine  that  it 
must  do  so.  We  all,  therefore,  stood  at  the  side  of  the 
vessel  to  behold  the  apparition  of  Zealand. 

But  for  a  good  while  our  expectations  were  deluded : 
nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  the  green  flat  shores  of  the 
Scheldt,  wide  as  an  arm  of  the  sea,  and  sprinkled  with 
sand-banks,  upon  which  alighted  flocks  of  screaming  sea- 
gulls ;  and  the  pure,  clear  sky  did  not  seem  the  sky  of 
Holland.  The  ship  sailed  in  between  the  island  of  Zuid- 
Beveland  and  that  strip  of  land  which  forms  the  left  bank 
of  the  Scheldt,  called  Flanders  of  the  States,  or  Flemish 
Zealand. 

The  story  of  this  strip  of  land  is  very  curious.  For 
the  stranger  entering  Holland  it  is,  as  it  were,  the  first 
page  of  that  great  epic  which  is  entitled — the  battle  with 
the  sea.  In  the  middle  ages  there  was  nothing  here  but 
a  vast  gulf  with  a  few  scattered  islets.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century  this  gulf  no  longer  existed ;  four 
hundred  years  of  slow  and  patient  labour  had  changed  it 
into  a  fertile  plain  defended  by  dykes,  intersected  by 
canals,  and  populated  with  villages,  under  the  name  of 
Flemish  Zealand.      When  the  war  of  independence  broke 


ZEALAND,  19 

out,  the  inhabitants  of  Flemish  Zealand,  rather  than  give 
it  up  to  the  Spaniards,  cut  their  djd^es,  let  in  the  sea,  and 
destroying  in  one  day  the  labour  of  four  centuries,  it 
became  once  more  the  gulf  of  the  middle  ages.  The  war 
of  independence  over,  the  work  of  reformation  was  again 
commenced,  and  in  three  hundred  years  Flemish  Zealand 
again  emerged  from  the  waters,  and  was  restored  to  the 
continent,  like  a  daughter  that  had  been  dead  and  was  alive 
again.  Flemish  Zealand,  divided  from  Belgian  Flanders 
by  a  double  political  and  religious  barrier,  and  separated 
from  Holland  by  the  Scheldt,  preserves  its  customs  and  its 
faith  as  they  were  in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  traditions 
of  the  war  with  Spain  are  as  speaking  and  vivid  as  any 
event  of  the  day.  The  soil  is  fertile,  the  inhabitants 
enjoy  a  more  than  ordinary  prosperity,  they  have  schools 
and  printing-presses,  their  manners  are  severe  and  simple, 
and  they  live  peaceably  on  their  fragment  of  country,  risen 
from  the  sea  but  yesterday,  antil  the  day  when  the  sea  shall 
once  more  claim  it  for  its  third  burial.  A  Belofian  fellow- 
passenger,  who  gave  me  this  information,  called  my  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  inhabitants  of  Flemish  Zealand, 
when  they  inundated  their  country  and  rose  against  the 
Spanish  domination,  were  still  Catholics ;  consequently  the 
strange  circumstance  occurred  that  while  they  went  down 
into  the  waters  good  Catholics,  they  rose  to  the  surface 
Protestants. 

To  my  great  amazement,  the  ship,  instead  of  continuing 
to  descend  the  Scheldt  and  skirting  the  island  of  Zuid- 
Beveland,  when  it  reached  a  certain  point,  entered  a 
narrow  canal  which  cuts  that  island  into  two  parts  and 


20  HOLLAND. 

joins  the  two  brandies  of  the  river  which  are  made  by 
the  island  itself. 

It  was  the  first  Dutch  canal  that  I  had  seen^  and  the 
impression  was  a  new  one.  It  is  bordered  by  two  lofty 
dykes  which  hide  the  country ;  the  ship  glided  along  as 
if  it  were  in  ambush  and  meant  to  rnsh  out  at  the  other 
end  to  somebody's  confusion ;  and  as  there  was  not  a  boat 
on  the  canal  nor  a  living  being  on  the  banks^  the  silence 
and  solitude  gave  a  still  more  piratical  air  to  the  pro- 
ceeding. 

Issuing  out  into  the  eastern  branch  of  the  Scheldt  we 
were  in  the  heart  of  Zealand.  To  our  right  lay  the 
island  of  Tholen ;  to  the  left,  that  of  North  Beveland ; 
behind,  that  of  Sonth  Beveland ;  before,  that  of  Schon- 
wen.  Except  the  island  of  Walcheren,  all  the  prin- 
cipal islands  of  the  mysterious  archipelago  were  around 
us. 

The  mystery  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  islands  were  only 
to  be  divined,  not  seen.  To  the  right  and  left  of  the  wide 
river,  before  and  behind  our  vessel,  the  straight  lines  of 
the  dykes  lay  like  green  strips  upon  the  waters ;  and 
beyond  these  strips,  here  and  there,  the  tops  of  trees  and 
steeples  and  the  red  roofs  of  houses  seemed  rising  up  to 
peep  at  us. 

Not  a  hill,  not  a  bit  of  rising  ground,  not  a  house  could 
be  descried  on  any  side;  everything  seemed  hidden,  im- 
mersed in  the  water;  the  islands  might  have  been  on  the 
point  of  sinking  into  the  depths  of  the  waves ;  we  appeared 
to  be  traversing  a  country  on  the  day  of  a  great  flood,  and 
were  sensible  of  some  consolation  at  the  thought  that  we 


ZEALAND.  21 

were  in  a  ship.  Now  and  then  the  vessel  stopped  to  let 
out  a  passenger  who  got  into  a  small  boat  and  was  rowed 
to  shore.  I  was  myself  very  curious  to  see  Zealand^  and 
yet  I  looked  at  these  people  with  a  feeling  of  compassion, 
as  if  those  objects  which  seemed  islands  were  really 
only  monstrous  whales  that  would  vanish  under  the 
waters  at  the  boat-'s  approach. 

The  captain  of  our  ship,  a  Hollander,  stopping  to 
look  at  a  small  map  of  Zealand  which  I  was  studying,  I 
seized  the  occasion  to  bombard  him  with  questions,  for- 
tunately I  had  fallen  upon  one  of  those  few  Dutchmen 
who,  in  common  with  us  Latins,  have  the  weakness  of 
loving  the  sound  of  their  own  voices. 

"  Here  in  Zealand,-'''  said  he,  with  the  gravity  of  a 
schoolmaster  giving  a  lesson,  ^^  the  dykes  are,  even  more 
than  in  the  other  provinces,  a  question  of  life  and  death. 
At  high  tide  all  Zealand  is  under  water.  At  every  broken 
dyke  an  island  would  vanish.  And  the  worst  of  it  is  that 
the  dykes  have  to  resist  not  only  the  direct  attack  of 
the  waves,  but  still  another  even  more  dangerous  force. 
The  rivers  throw  themselves  into  the  sea,  the  sea  rushes 
against  the  rivers,  and  in  this  continual  struggle  under- 
currents are  formed  which  gnaw  at  the  base  of  the  dykes, 
so  that  they  crumble  in  all  at  once  like  a  wall  that  has 
been  undermined.  The  Zealanders  have  to  stand  ever  on 
the  alert.  When  a  dyke  is  in  peril,  they  build  another 
one  within  it,  and  await  the  assault  of  the  waters  behind 
that,  and  so  gain  time,  until  they  can  either  rebuild  the 
first  dyke  or  continue  to  strengthen  those  within,  and  the 
current  diversfcs  and  thev  are  saved /^ 


22  HOLLAND. 


'^  And  may  it  not  be/^  said  I,  always  hungry  for  poetic 
possibilities, ''  that  some  day  Zealand  may  no  longer  exist P^"* 

"  Quite  the  contrary/^  he  answered,  to  my  great  regret ; 
"  the  day  may  come  in  which  Zealand  will  be  no  longer 
an  archipelago,  but  te7Ta  firma.  The  Scheldt  and  the 
Meuse  constantly  bring  down  deposits  of  mud  which 
remain  at  the  bottom  of  the  arms  of  the  sea,  and  which, 
gradually  rising,  enlarge  the  islands  and  enclose  within 
the  land  cities  and  villages  which  were  once  upon  the  shore 
and  had  their  ports.  Azel,  Goes,  Veere,  Arnemindcn, 
Middelburg,  were  once  maritime  towns,  and  are  such  no 
longer.  A  day  will  come  when  Zealand  shall  be  divided  by 
no  waters  but  those  of  her  rivers,  and  when  a  network  of 
railways  shall  extend  over  the  whole  country,  which  will 
be  joined  to  the  mainland  as  Zuid-Beveland  is  joined. 
Zealand  grows  greater  in  her  battle  with  the  sea.  The 
sea  may  succeed  in  doing  something  in  other  parts  of 
Holland,  but  here  it  will  get  the  worst  of  it.  You  know 
the  arms  of  Zealand,  do  you  not?  A  lion  swimming,  and 
the  motto,  Luctor  et  emergo.^' 

Here  he  was  silent  for  a  moment_,  and  a  gleam  of  pride 
sparkled  for  a  moment  in  his  eye,  and  was  quenched; 
then  he  began  again  with  all  his  former  gravity : 

"  Emergo ;  but  not  always  immersed.  Everyone  of  the 
islands  of  Zealand,  one  after  the  other,  slept  for  more  or 
less  time  under  the  waters.  Three  centuries  ago  Schonweu 
was  inundated  by  the  sea,  drowning  inhabitants  and  cattle 
from  one  end  to  the  other,  and  leaving  it  a  desert.  North 
Beveland  was  entirely  submerged  a  short  time  after,  and 
for  several  years  only  the  tops  of  her  steeples  could  he 


ZEALAND.  23 

seen  ahove  the  water.  South  Beveland  had  the  same  fate 
in  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Tholen  the 
same  in  1825.  Walcheren.  the  same  in  1808;  and  in 
Middelburg^  her  capital  city,  several  miles  distant  from 
the  coast_,  the  water  was  up  to  the  roofs  of  the  houses .''' 

What  with  hearing  for  ever  of  water  and  floods,  of 
countries  submerged  and  people  drowned,  I  began  to 
think  it  strange  that  I  was  not  drowned  myself.  I  asked 
the  captain  what  sort  of  people  these  were  who  inhabited 
the  invisible  islands  with  water  under  their  feet  and  over 
their  heads. 

^^Agricultural  people  and  shepherds/^  he  answered. 
''^In  point  of  agriculture  Zealand  is  the  richest  province  in. 
the  low  countries.  The  soil  is  one  of  wonderful  fertility. 
Grain,  flax,  colza,  madder,  grow  as  in  few  other  places. 
There  are  fine  large  cattle  and  colossal  horses ;  bigger 
than  the  Flemish  horses.  The  people  are  strong  and  well 
made,  preserving  their  ancient  customs  and  living  con- 
tented in  their  prosperity  and  peace,  Zealand  is  a  hidden 
paradise.''^ 

Whilst  the  captain  talked,  the  ship  entcTed  the  canal  of 
Keete,  which  divides  the  islands  of  Schonwen  and  Tholen, 
famous  as  having  been  forded  by  the  Spaniards  in  1575, 
as  the  eastern  arm  of  the  Scheldt  is  famous  for  the  ford 
of  1572.  All  Zealand  is  full  of  memorials  of  that  war. 
This  little  sandy  archipelago,  half  buried  in  the  sea,  was 
the  very  hotbed  of  war  and  heresy,  both  because  of  its 
connection  with  William  of  Orange,  hereditary  lord  of 
many  of  the  islands,  and  because  of  the  impediments  of 
every  kind  which    it    opposed    to   the   invader,  and  the 


24  HOLLAND, 

Duke  of  Alva  burned  to  get  possession  of  it  Conse- 
quently the  most  obstinate  struggles  went  on  upon  its 
shores  with  all  the  mingled  horrors  of  land  fights  and 
sea  fights.  The  soldiers  forded  the  canals  at  night,, 
holding  on  to  each  other,  with  water  up  to  their  necks, 
in  peril  from  the  tides,  beaten  by  the  rain,  fired  at 
from  the  shores ;  horses  and  artillery  sank  into  the  mud ; 
the  wounded  were  caught  by  the  currents  and  buried 
alive  in  the  quagmires ;  the  air  resounded  with  the 
voices  of  Germans,  Italians,  Flemings,  Walloons ;  torches 
illuminated  here  and  there  the  great  arquebuses,  pom- 
pous plumes,  strange  visages,  and  the  battle  seemed  a 
fantastic  funeral;  and  it  was  indeed  the  funeral  of  the 
great  Spanish  monarch}^,  w^hich  was  being  slowly  drowned 
in  the  waters  of  Holland  and  covered  with  mud  and  male- 
dictions. He  who  is  guilty  of  any  overwhelming  tender- 
ness for  Spain  has  only  to  go  to  Holland.  There  never, 
perhaps,  existed  two  nations  who  had  better  cause  to  hate 
each  other  with  all  the  strength  of  their  souls,  or  who 
have  proved  it  with  more  furious  wrath. 

The  ship  now  passed  between  the  island  of  Schonwen 
and  the  smaller  one  of  San  Philipsland,  and  in  a  few  mo- 
ments came  out  into  the  large  arm  of  the  Mouse  called 
Krammer,  which  divides  the  island  of  Overflakkee  from 
the  mainland.  We  appeared  to  be  sailing  through  a  chain 
of  large  lakes.  The  shores  were  distant  and  presented  the 
same  aspect  as  those  of  the  Scheldt :  long  perspectives  of 
dykes,  tops  of  trees,  steeples  and  roofs  behind  them.  Only 
upon  some  projection  of  the  shore,  forming  a  sort  of 
breach  in  the  immense  bastion  of  the  islands,  could  be 


ZEALAND,  25 

seen  a  sort  of  sketcli  of  a  Dutch  landscape,  a  colored 
house^  a  windmill,  a  boat,  looking  like  the  revelation  of  a 
hidden  thing,  made  to  sharpen  the  curiosity  of  travellers, 
and  to  delude  it. 

Going  towards  the  prow  of  the  vessel  I  made  a  pleasant 
discovery.  There  was  a  group  of  peasants,  men  and 
women,  wearing  the  costume  of  Zealand,  I  do  not  remem- 
ber of  which  island,  for  the  costume  differs,  as  does  the 
dialect,  which  is  a  mixture  of  Dutch  and  Flemish,  if  that 
may  be  said  of  two  languages  which  differ  but  slightly 
from  each  other.  The  men  wore  round  felt  hats  with  an 
embroidered  baud ;  jackets  of  dark  cloth,  short  and  tight, 
and  opening  in  front  to  display  a  sort  of  vest  bordered 
with  red,  yellow  and  green,  buttoned  with  a  row  of  silver 
buttons,  so  close  together  as  to  resemble  a  chain ;  short 
breeches  of  the  same  colour  as  the  jacket,  bound  round 
the  waist  by  a  belt,  furnished  with  a  large  stud  or  buckle 
of  chased  silver ;  a  scarlet  cravat,  and  fine  woollen  stock- 
ings coming  to  the  knee.  One  of  them  had  coins  for 
buttons,  a  not  uncommon  custom.  The  women  wore  a 
straw  hat  in  the  shape  of  a  truncated  cone,  very  tall, 
something  like  a  bucket  turned  upside  down,  with  a  quan- 
tity of  blue  ribbons  fluttering  about  it ;  a  dark-coloured 
gown  open  on  the  bosom  over  an  embroidered  chemise ; 
their  arms  bare  to  the  elbow;  and  enormous  gold  or 
gilded  ear-rings  that  projected  nearly  over  the  cheeks. 

Although  I  did  my  best  to  copy  Victor  Hugo,  and 
"  admire  everything  like  a  brute,"  I  could  not  succeed  in 
persuading  myself  that  that  fashion  of  dress  was  beautiful. 
But  I  was  prepared  for  this  sort  of  contrariety.     I  kne\^ 


26  HOLLAND. 

that  in  Holland  one  seeks  tlie  new  rather  than  the  beau- 
tif  ulj  and  the  good  rather  than  the  new  ;  and  therefore  I 
was  more  disposed  for  observation  than  enthusiasm. 
I  comforted  myself  for  the  disappointment  of  my  taste 
for  the  picturesque  with  the  thought  that  all  those 
peasants  certainly  knew  how  to  read  and  write ;  that  they 
hadj  perhaps^  that  very  evening  committed  to  memory  some 
of  the  verses  of  their  great  poet,  Jacob  Catz ;  and  that  pro- 
bably they  were  then  going,  with  their  excellent  pro- 
gramme in  their  pockets^  to  some  rural  meeting,  where 
some  of  them  were  to  confute  with  the  arguments  of 
their  modest  experience  the  propositions  of  a  learned 
agronome  of  Goes  or  Middelburg. 

Ludovico  Guicciardini,  a  Florentine  gentleman,  and 
author  of  a  fine  work  on  the  Low  Countries,  printed  in 
Antwerp  in  the  sixteenth  century,  says  that  in  Zealand 
there  is  scarcely  a  person  of  either  sex  who  speaks 
French  or  Spanish,  but  that  many  speak  Italian.  This, 
which  was  perhaps  an  exaggeration  even  in  his  time,  is 
now  an  absolute  fable;  but  it  is  certain,  however,  that 
there  is  an  extraordinary  amount  of  intellectual  culture 
among  them,  superior  to  that  of  the  French,  Belgian,  or 
German  peasant,  and  superior  also  to  that  of  the  other 
parts  of  Holland. 

The  ship  skirted  the  island  of  San  Philipsland,  and  we 
were  out  of  Zealand. 

So  this  province,  mysterious  before  we  entered  it,  ap- 
peared still  more  mysterious  when  we  got  out  of  it.  We  had 
been  through  it,  but  we  had  not  seen  it.  We  went  in  and 
came  out  with  our  curiosity  ungratified.  The  only  thing  we 


ZEALAXD,  27 

had  seen  ^vas  tlie  fact  that  Zealand  was  invisible.      But  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  it  is  a  country  of 
mystery  merely  because  it  is  hidden.  Every  thin  2;'  in  Zealand 
is  mysterious.  In  the  first  place,  how  was  it  formed  ?  Was 
it  a  group  of  very  small  islands,  separated  by  canals  and 
uninhabited,  which,  as  some  believe,  joined    themselves 
together  and  became  large  islands  ?   or  was  it,  as  others 
believe,  terra  firma  when  the  Scheldt  emptied  itself  into 
the  Meuse  ?     But  leaving  the   question  of  its  origin,  in 
what  other  country  in  the  world  do  the  things  happen 
which  happen  in  Zealand  ?     In  what  other  country  do  the 
fishermen  catch  a  Siren  in  their  nets,  and  the  husband, 
having  in  vain   entreated  with  tears  that  she  should  be 
restored  to  him,  catches  up  a  handful  of  sand  and  throws 
it  at  them,  prophesying  at  the  same  time  that  that  sand 
shall  choke  up  the    city  ports,  and  the  prophecy  is  ac- 
complished ?     In  what  country,  as  on  the  shores  of  the 
island  of  "Walcheren,  do  the  souls  of  the  dead,  lost  at  sea, 
come   and  wake  up  the  fishermen,  and  oblige  them  to 
carry  them  in  their  boats  to  the  English  coast  ?     In  what 
country  do  the  tempests  bring,  as  oq  the  shores  of  the 
island  of  Schonweu,  corpses  from  the  Polar  seas,  of  mon- 
sterSj  half  man,  half  boat,  mummies  dressed  in  trunks  of 
trees  that  float  ?  and  is  there  not  one  to  be  seen  now 
in  the  Municipal  Hall  of  Zeirikzee?     In  what  country, 
except  near  TVemeldinge,  does  it  happen  to  a  man  to  fall 
head  first  into  a  canal  and  remain  under  one  hour,  during 
which  time  he  sees  his  dead  wife  and  children,  who  con- 
verse with  him  from  Paradise,  and  he  is  then  taken  out 
alive,  and  relates  the  prodigy  to  Victor  Hugo,  who  believes 


28  HOLLAND. 

it  true  and  writes  a  commentary  upon  it,  concluding  that 
the  soul  may  leave  the  body  for  a  time  and  return  to  it 
again  ?  In  what  country,  save  Domburg,  do  they  fish  up 
at  low  water  antique  temples  and  statues  of  unknown 
divinities?  In  what  country,  except  at  Wemeldinge,  docs 
the  sword  of  a  Spanish  captain,  Mondragone,  serve  as  a 
lightning-rod  to  a  tower  ?  In  what  country  but  the  island 
of  Schonwen,  do  they  m.ake  unfaitliful  wives  walk  naked 
through  the  streets,  with  two  stones  tied  to  their  necks,  and 
an  iron  cylinder  upon  their  heads  ?  But  come,  this  last 
wonder  is  no  more  to  be  seen ;  but  the  stones  exist  still, 
and  anyone  may  see  them  in  the  Town  Hall  of  Brauwers- 
liaven. 

The  ship  now  entered  that  portion  of  the  southern 
branch  of  the  Mouse,  which  is  called  Vokerak ;  the  scene 
was  still  the  same :  dykes,  and  again  dykes,  tops  of 
steeples,  roofs  of  houses,  here  and  there  a  vessel.  One 
thing  only  was  changed — the  sky. 

I  saw  there  for  the  first  time  the  sky  of  Holland  under 
its  usual  aspect,  and  looked  on  at  one  of  those  battles  of 
light,  proper  to  the  Low  Countries,  which  the  great  Dutch 
landscape  painters  rendered  with  such  unrivalled  excel- 
lence. Until  then  the  sky  had  been  serene,  a  lovely 
summer's  day,  the  waters  blue,  the  shores  bright  green, 
the  air  warm,  and  not  a  puff  of  wind.  Suddenly  a  dense 
cloud  hid  the  sun,  and  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  write 
it,  everything  changed  its  aspect,  as  if  in  one  instant 
season,  latitude,  and  time  had  changed.  The  water  became 
dark,  the  green  of  the  shores  grew  dull,  the  horizon  hid 
itself  behind  a  grey  veil,  every  object  appeared  surrounded 


ZEALAND.  29 

by  a  dim  light  that  softened  and  confused  the  outlines, 
and  a  malignant  breeze  arose  that  froze  one^s  very  bones. 
It  seemed  December^  and  we  felt  the  damp  chill  of  winter^ 
and  that  uneasiness  which  is  brought  by  any  sudden,  unex- 
pected change  in  nature.  Then,  from  the  whole  circle  of 
the  horizon,  leaden  clouds  began  to  rise,  moving  with 
great  rapidity,  seeming  to  seek  with  a  sort  of  painful  im- 
patience a  direction  and  a  form,  and  the  water  became 
agitated,  streaked  with  luminous  reflections,  broad, 
greenish,  violet,  whitish,  clay-colored,  and  black  strips; 
and  at  length  the  irritation  of  nature  resolved  itself  into 
a  thick,  heavy  rain,  confusing  sea  and  land  and  sky  into 
one  grey  mass,  hardly  interrupted  by  a  slightly  darker 
shade  where  lay  the  distant  shore,  or  where  the  sails  of 
some  vessel  stood,  up  here  and  there  like  a  dim  phantom 
on  the  waters  of  the  rivers. 

"  We  are  now  really  in  Holland,^^  said  the  captain  to  a 
group  of  passengers  who  stood  contemplating  the  scene. 
"  These  sudden  changes  are  seen  nowhere  but  here.^'* 
Then,  in  answer  to  a  question  from  one  of  us,  he  added : 
"  Holland  has  a  meteorology  of  her  own.  The  winter 
is  Ions;,  the  summer  short,  the  spring  nothing  but  the  end 
of  winter,  and  now  and  then,  as  we  see,  winter  looks  back 
at  us  even  in  summer.  There  is  a  saying  among  us  that 
we  may  see  the  four  seasons  in  one  day.  We  have  the 
most  inconstant  sky  in  the  world,  and  we  are  for  ever 
talking  about  the  weather.  The  atmosphere  is  the  most 
variable  spectacle  that  we  can  boast.  But  it  is  a  dreary 
climate.  The  sea  sends  rain  from  three  quarters,  and  the 
winds  sweep  over  us  without  resistance;  even  on  the  finest 


80  HOLLAND. 

days  the  earth  exhales  vapors  that  obscure  the  horizon ; 
for  many  months  the  air  has  no  transparency.  See  the 
winter;  there  are  days  when  it  seems  as  if  we  should 
never  see  the  sky  again ;  the  darkness  comes  from  above, 
like  the  light ;  the  north-west  wind  brings  the  icy  air  from 
the  poles  and  lashes  the  sea  into  a  fury  that  seems  capable 
of  destroying  the  coast/^  Here  he  turned  to  me  with  a 
smile,  and  said :  "  You  are  better  off  in  Italy.""  Then  he 
became  grave  again_,  and  added  :  ^^  But  every  country  has 
its  good  and  its  evil/^ 

The  ship  now  coming  out  of  the  Volkerak,  passed  before 
the  fortress  of  Willemstadt,  built  in  1583  by  the  Prince  6i 
Orange,  and  entered  the  Hollandsdiep,  a  large  branch  of 
the  Meuse  with  separates  South  Holland  from  North  Bra- 
bant. A  great  stretch  of  water,  two  dark  lines  to  right  and 
left,  and  an  ash- colored  sky,  were  all  that  could  be  seen 
from  the  vessel.  A  French  lady,  amid  the  general  silence, 
exclaimed  with  a  yawn :  "  How  lovely  Holland  is  !  '^  and 
everybody,  but  the  Hollanders,  laughed. 

'*  Ah,  Captain,"  said  a  little  old  gentleman,  a  Belgian, 
one  of  those  pillars  of  the  cafe  who  are  for  ever  airing 
their  political  opinions,  "  every  country  has  its  good  and 
its  evil  side,  and  we  Belgians  and  Hollanders  must  at  least 
be  persuaded  of  this  truth,  and  sympathise  with  each  other 
in  order  to  live  in  peace  and  harmony.  When  we  think 
that  we  are  a  State  of  nine  millions,  we  with  our  manu- 
factures, and  you  with  your  commerce,  with  two  capitals 
like  Amsterdam  and  Brussels,  and  two  commercial  cities 
like  Antwerp  and  Rotterdam  !  we  should  count  for  some- 
thing in  the  world,  eh,  Captain  ?  '* 


ZEALAND.  31 

The  captain  made  no  reply.     Another  Dutchman  said: 

"  To  be  sure ;  with  religious  wars  going  on  twelve 
months  in  the  vear.'^ 

The  little  old  Belgian^  rather  disconcerted,  continued  in 
a  low  voice  to  me  : 

"  It  is  a  fact^  Signor  mio.  It  is  a  trifle,,  especially  on 
our  side.  You  will  see  in  Holland :  Amsterdam  is  not 
Brussels ;  no,  indeed,  and  the  country  is  as  flat  and  as 
tiresome  as  it  can  be ;  but  as  for  prosperity,  you  will  see. 
They  spend  a  florin,  which  is  more  than  two  francs,  where 
we  spend  a  franc.  You  will  find  that  out  in  the  hotel 
bills.  They  are  twice  as  rich  as  we  are.  The  blow  was 
given  by  William  I.,  who  wanted  to  make  a  Dutch  Bel- 
gium, and  pushed  us  to  extremities.  You  know  how 
things  went  on,^^  &c. 

In  the  Hollandsdiep  we  began  to  see  large  boats,  fishing 
vessels,  and  some  large  ships  from  Hellevoetsluis,  a  great 
maritime  port  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Meuse,  near  the 
mouth,  where  all  the  vessels  that  make  the  voyage  to 
India  stop.  The  rain  ceased,  the  sky  gradually,  almost 
unwillingly,  cleared  in  part,  the  water  and  the  shores 
again  took  on  their  fresh  and  vivid  colors,  and  we  were 
in  summer  once  more. 

In  a  short  time  the  ship  was  off  the  village  of  Moer- 
digk.  There  is  to  be  seen  one  of  the  largest  bridges  in 
the  world.  It  is  an  iron  bridge,  one  mile  and  a  half  in 
length,  over  which  passes  the  railway  to  Dordrecht  and 
Rotterdam.  From  a  distance  it  presents  the  aspect  as  of 
fourteen  enormous  buildings  of  equal  size  placed  across 
the  river,  these  edifices  being  the  piers  of  the  arches  which 


32  HOLLAND 

sustain  the  rails.  Passing  over  it_,  as  I  did  some  montlis 
aftei'wards,  one  sees  notliing  but  sky  and  water.  It  is  not 
a  pleasant  sensation.  The  ship  turned  to  the  left  in  front 
of  the  bridge  and  entered  a  narrow  arm  of  the  Meuse, 
called  Dordshe  kil_,  bordered  by  dykes,  and  having  more 
the  look  of  a  canal  than  a  river.  It  was  the  seventh  turn 
she  had  made  since  we  crossed  the  frontier.  We  now 
began  to  see  around  us  something  like  the  appearance  of 
a  great  city.  Long  piles  of  trees  upon  the  banks,  bushes, 
small  houses,  canals  on  either  side,  and  a  coming  and 
going  of  boats  large  and  small.  The  name  of  Dordrecht 
was  in  everybody's  mouth,  and  all  seemed  making  ready 
for  some  spectacle.  The  ship  turned  for  the  eighth  time 
and  entered  the  Oude-Maas,  or  old  Meuse,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  we  saw  the  first  houses  of  the  environs  of  Dor- 
drecht. 

It  was  like  the  sudden  apparition  of  Holland,  the  in- 
stantaneous satisfaction  of  all  our  curiosity,  the  revelation 
of  all  the  mysteries  that  tormented  our  imaginations  ;  we 
awakened  in  a  new  world. 

On  every  side  we  saw  very  high  windmills  with  their  long 
arms ;  houses  were  sprinkled  along  the  river,  of  a  thou- 
sand strange  forms,  villas,  pavilions,  kiosks,  with  red  roofs, 
black  walls,  and  walls  of  rose,  blue,  and  ash  color,  the 
windows  and  doors  surrounded  by  broad  snow-white 
bands.  Canals  great  and  small  divided  these  houses,  and 
were  bordered  by  rows  of  trees ;  ships  lay  all  along ;  boats 
before  every  door;  sails  gleamed  at  the  bottoms  of  the 
streets ;  pennons,  ships'  flags,  and  arms  of  windmills  rose 
confusedly  above  the  trees  and  roofs ;  bridges,  small  stair- 


^V^   oT  •!«« 


A 


o-^ 


ZEALAND.  33 

ways,  gardens  hanging  over  the  water,,  and  a  coming  and 
going  of  men,  women,  and  children  on  the  banks  of  the 
canals  and  over  the  bridges,  making  a  lively  and  varied 
spectacle.  There  was  something  of  theatrical  and  childish, 
a  little  Chinese,  a  little  European,  a  little  of  no  country, 
mingled  with  an  air  of  blessed  peace  and  innocence. 

So  appeared  to  me  Dordrecht  for  the  first  time,  one  of 
the  oldest  as  well  as  one  of  the  freshest  and  gayest  of 
Dutch  cities ;  queen  of  commerce  in  the  middle  ages ; 
fertile  mother  of  painters  and  learned  men ;  honoured  by 
first  assembly  of  deputies  from  the  United  Provinces  in 
1572;  the  seat  at  different  times  of  memorable  synods; 
and  especially  famous  for  that  assembly  of  Protestant 
theologians  in  1618,  which  was  a  sort  of  (Ecumenical 
Council  of  Reform,  which  fixed  the  form  of.  the  national 
religion,  and  caused  the  beginning  of  that  series  of  agita- 
t'ons  and  persecutions  which  ended  with  the  fatal  execution 
of  Barnevelt  and  the  bloody  triumph  of  Maurice  of  Orange. 

Dordrecht  is  still  one  of  the  most  flourishing  of  the 
cities  of  the  United  Provinces,  thanks  to  its  easy  com- 
munication with  the  sea,  with  Belgium,  and  the  interior 
of  Holland.  At  Dordrecht  arrive  the  immense  provisions 
of  wood  which  come  dowa  the  Rhine  from  the  Black  Forest 
and  Switzerland,  the  wines  of  the  Rhine,  lime,  cement, 
and  stone;  in  her  small  port  there  is  a  continual  coming 
and  going  of  sails,  clouds  of  smoke,  and  flags,  bringing 
greetings  from  i^rnhem,  from  Bois-le-Duc,  from  Ni- 
megnen,  Rotterdam,  Antwerp,  and  all  her  mysterious 
sisters  of  Zealand. 

Our  ship  stopped  a  few  minutes  at  Dordrecht^  and  I 


34  HOLLAND. 

was  strongly  tempted  to  land  and  look  about  me,  but 
reflecting  tbat  I  should  have  better  opportunities  and 
more  to  see  at  Rotterdam,  I  refrained;  and  we  pre- 
sently turned  (our  ninth  turning)  into  a  narrow  branch 
of  the  Meuse  called  De  Noord,  one  of  the  thousand 
threads  of  the  inextricable  watery  network  that  covers 
South  Holland. 

The  position  of  Dordrecht  is  most  singular.  It  is 
placed  upon  the  extremity  of  a  tract  of  land,  separated 
from  the  continent^  forming  an  island  in  the  midst  of 
landj  surrounded  by  rivers,,  partly  natural,  partly  artificial, 
of  which  one,  the  large  stream  called  the  New  Merwede, 
was  entirely  formed  by  the  hand  of  man.  The  im- 
prisonment of  this  piece  of  land  upon  which  Dordrecht 
stands  is  an  episode  of  one  of  Holland^s  great  battles 
with  the  sea.  The  archipelago  of  Biesbosch  did  not 
exist  before  the  fifteenth  century,  and  in  its  place  extended 
a  beautiful  plain,  dotted  with  populous  villages.  On  the 
night  of  the  18th  of  November  1421,  the  waters  of  the 
Waal  and  the  Meuse  burst  the  dykes,  destroyed  more  than 
seventy  villages,  drowned  a  hundred  thousand  people,  and 
broke  up  the  plain  into  a  hundred  or  so  of  small  islands, 
leaving  only  one  tower  erect  amid  the  ruin,  some  remains 
of  which,  called  Casa  Merwede,  are  still  to  be  seen. 

Thus  was  Dordrecht  separated  from  the  mainland,  and 
the  archipelago  of  Biesbosch  made  its  appearance  upon 
the  earth,  which,  as  if  to  show  that  it  has  some  reason  to 
exist,  ofi'ers  hay,  canes,  and  reeds  to  a  small  village  that 
is  stuck  like  a  swallow^s  nest  upon  one  of  the  surrounding 
dykes.     But  this  is  not  all  the  singularity  of  Dordrecht. 


ZEALAND.  35 

Tradition  relates  that  the  entire  citj,  with  its  houses,  its 
mills,  its  canals,  was,  in  the  time  of  that  memorable  inun- 
dation, transported  all  in  one  piece  from  one  place  to 
another  ;  and  that  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighbour- 
ing towms  came  to  it  after  the  catastrophe  they  could  not 
find  it.  And  this  prodigy  is  explained  by  the  fact  that 
Dordrecht  is  founded  upon  a  stratum  of  clay,  and  that 
this  stratum  of  clay  slid  bodily  down  with  the  city  upon 
it.     I  write  it  as  I  heard  it,  or  read  it. 

Before  the  ship  left  the  canal  of  Noord  my  hope  of 
seeing  my  first  sunset  in  Holland  was  deluded  by  another 
sudden  change  of  weather.  The  sky  grew  dark,  the  water 
became  livid,  and  the  horizon  vanished  behind  a  dense 
vapory  veil. 

At  that  point  where  the  Meuse  takes  prisoner  and 
carries  with  her  the  waters  of  the  main  branch  of  the 
Rhine,  the  Vaal,  and  receives  those  of  the  Leek  and  the 
Yssel,  the  width  is  very  great,  and  the  banks  are  crowned 
by  long  rows  of  trees,  interspersed  with  houses,  manufac- 
tories, workshops_,  and  arsenals,  that  extend  all  the  way  to 
Rotterdam.  The  first  time  that  one  sees  the  Meuse,  and 
thinks  of  the  disasters,  the  transformations,  the  thousand 
calamities,  and  innumerable  victims  of  that  capricious  and 
terrible  river,  one  examines  it  with  a  sort  of  anxious 
curiosity,  as  if  it  were  some  famous  brigand,  and  one's 
eyes  run  along  the  dykes  with  a  sentiment  of  grateful 
satisfaction,  as  when  one  beholds  the  famous  bandit 
manacled  and  in  the  hands  of  the  carabinieri.  Whilst 
we  stood  expecting  the  first  view  of  Rottei'dam,  a  pas- 
senger told  us  that,  when  the  Meuse  is  frozen,  the  current 


36  HOLLAND. 

which  comes  from  warmer  regions  bursts  from  beneath 
the  ice  that  covers  the  stream^  and  with  a  terrible  noise, 
piles  it  against  the  dykes  in  immense  masses,  thus  arrest- 
ting  the  course  of  the  water  and  making  it  overflow.  Then 
begins  a  strange  battle.  To  the  threats  of  the.Meuse  the 
Hollanders  reply  with  cannon,  and  charges  of  grapeshot 
break  the  towers  and  barricades  of  ice  which  choke  the 
current  into  a  tempest  of  briny  and  icy  rain.  ^^  I  think/' 
concluded  the  passenger,  '^^that  we  Hollanders  are  the 
only  people  who  are  forced  to  fight  their  rivers  with 
cannon.''^ 

When  we  arrived  in  sight  of  Rotterdam  it  rained  and 
was  foggy ;  we  could  see,  as  through  a  veil,  only  an  im- 
mense confusion  of  ships,  houses,  windmills,  towers,  trees, 
and  people  in  motion  on  the  dykes  and  bridges ;  there 
were  lights  everywhere ;  a  great  city  with  such  an  aspect 
as  I  had  never  seen  before,  and  which  fog  and  darkness 
soon  hid  from  me  altogether.  When  I  had  taken  leave  of 
my  travelling  companions,  and  had  put  my  luggage  in 
order,  it  was  night.  "  So  much  the  better,'^  I  thought, 
as  I  entered  a  carriage ;  '^  I  shall  see  the  first  Dutch  city 
by  night,  which  must  be  a  strange  spectacle.^'  And, 
indeed,  when  M.  Bismarck  was  at  Rotterdam,  he  wrote 
to  his  wife  that  at  night  he  saw  spectres  on  the  roofs. 


ROTTERDAM. 


It  is  difficult  to  make  raucli  of  the  city  of  Rotterdam, 
entering  it  at  night.  Tiie  carriage  passed  ahnost  imme- 
diately over  a  bridge  that  resounded  hollowly  beneath 
it,  and  whilst  I  thought  myself,  and  was  in  fact,  within 
the  city,  I  saw  with  amazement,  on  my  right  and  left, 
two  rows  of  ships  vanishing  in  the  gloom. 

Leaving  the  bridge,  we  passed  through  a  street,  lighted, 
and  full  of  people,  and  found  ourselves  upon  another 
bridge,  and  between  two  rows  of  vessels,  as  before.  And 
so  on  from  bridge  to  street,  from  street  to  bridge,  and  to 
increase  the  confusion,  an  illumination  of  lamps  at  the 
corners  of  houses,  lanterns  on  masts  of  ships,  lighthouses 
on  the  bridges,  small  lights  under  the  houses,  and  all 
these  lights  reflected  in  the  water.  All  at  once  the  car- 
riage stopped,  people  crowded  about;  I  looked  out,  and 
saw  a  bridge  in  the  air.  In  answer  to  my  question,  some- 
one said  that  a  vessel  was  passing.  We  went  on  again, 
seeing  a  perspective  of  canals  and  bridges,  crossing  and 


38  HOLLAND. 

recrossing  each  other,  until  we  came  to  a  great  square, 
sparkling  with  lights,  and  bristling  with  masts  of  ships_, 
and  finally  we  reached  our  inn  in  an  adjacent  street. 

My  first  care  on  entering  my  room,  was  to  see  whether 
Dutch  cleanliness  deserved  its  fame.  It  did,  indeed,  and 
may  be  called  the  religion  of  cleanliness.  The  linen  was 
snow  white,  the  window-panes  transparent  as  the  air,  the 
furniture  shining  like  crystal,  the  floors  so  clean  that  a 
microscope  could  not  discover  a  black  speck.  There 
was  a  basket  for  waste-paper,  a  tablet  for  scratching 
matches,  a  dish  for  cigar  ashes,  a  box  for  cigar  stumps, 
a  spittoon,  and  a  bootjack;  in  short,  there  was  no  possible 
pretext  for  soiling  anything. 

My  room  examined,  I  spread  a  map  of  Rotterdam 
upon  the  table,  and  made  some  preparatory  studies  for 
the  morrow. 

It  is  a  singular  thing  that  the  great  cities  of  Holland, 
although  built  upon  a  shifting  soil,  and  amid  difficulties 
of  every  kind,  have  all  great  regularity  of  form.  Amster- 
dam is  a  semicircle,  the  Hague  square,  Rotterdam  an  equi- 
lateral triangle.  The  base  of  the  triangle  is  an  immense 
dyke,  which  defends  the  city  from  the  Mouse,  and  is  called 
the  Boompjes,  signifying,  in  Dutch,  small  trees,  from  a 
row  of  little  elms,  now  very  tall,  that  were  planted  when 
it  was  first  constructed. 

Another  great  dyke  forms  a  second  bulwark  against  the 
river,  which  divides  the  city  into  two  almost  equal  parts, 
from  the  middle  of  the  left  side  to  the  opposite  angle. 
That  part  of  Rotterdam  which  is  comprised  between  the 
two  dykes,  is  all  canals,  islands,  and  bridges,  and  is  the 


EOTTEBDAM.        .  39 

new  city ;  tliat  -whicli  extends  beyond  tlie  second  dyke  is 
the  old  city.  Two  great  canals  extend  along  the  other 
two  sides  of  the  town  to  the  apex^  where  they  meet,,  and 
receive  the  waters  of  the  river  Eotte^  which  with  the 
affix  of  dam,  or  dyke,  gives  its  name  to  the  city. 

Having  thus  fulfilled  my  conscientious  duty  as  a 
traveller,  and  with  many  precautions  not  to  soil,  even  by 
a  breath,  the  purity  of  that  jewel  of  a  chamber,  I  aban- 
doned myself  with  humility  to  my  first  Dutch  bed. 

Dutch  beds,  I  speak  of  those  in  the  hotels,  are  gene- 
rally short  and  wide,  and  occupied,  in  a  great  part,  by  an 
immense  feather  pillow  in  which  a  giant^s  head  would  be 
overwhelmed;  I  may  add  that  the  ordinary  light  is  a 
copper  candlestick,  of  the  size  of  a  dinner-plate,  which 
might  sustain  a  torch,  but  holds,  instead,  a  tiny  candle 
about  the  size  of  a  Spanish  lady's  finger. 

In  the  morning  I  made  haste  to  rise  and  issue  forth 
into  the  strange  streets,  unlike  anything  in  Europe.  The 
first  I  saw  was  the  Hoog  Straat,  a  long  straight  thorough- 
fare running  along  the  interior  dyke. 

The  unplastered  houses,  of  every  shade  of  brick,  from 
the  darkest  red  to  light  rose  color,  chiefly  two  windows 
wide  and  two  stories  high,  have  the  front  wall  rising 
above  and  concealing  the  roof,  and  in  the  shape  of  a 
blunt  triangle  surmounted  by  a  parapet.  Some  of  these 
pointed  fa9ades  rise  into  two  curves,  like  a  long  neck 
without  a  head  j  some  are  cut  into  steps  like  the  houses 
that  children  build  with  blocks ;  some  present  the  as- 
pect of  a  conical  pavilion,  some  of  a  village  church,  some 
of  theatrical  cabins.     The  parapets  are,  in  general,  sur- 


40  HOLLAND, 

rounded  by  while  stripes^  coarse  arabesques  in  plaster, 
and  other  ornaments  in  very  bad  taste;  the  doors  and 
Ti'indows  are  bordered  by  broad  white  stripes ;  other  white 
lines  divide  the  different  stories ;  the  spaces  between  the 
doors  in  front  are  marked  by  white  wooden  panels  ;  so  that 
two  colors,  white  and  red,  prevail  everywhere,  and  as  in 
the  distance  the  darker  red  looks  black,  the  prospect  is 
half  festive,  half  funereal,  all  the  houses  looking  as  if 
they  were  hung  with  white  linen.  At  first  I  had  an 
inclination  to  laugh,  for  it  seemed  impossible  that  it 
could  have  been  done  seriously,  and  that  quiet  sober 
people  lived  in  those  houses.  They  looked  as  if  tliey  had 
been  run  up  for  a  festival,  and  would  presently  disappear, 
like  the  paper  framework  of  a  grand  display  of  fireworks. 

Whilst  I  stood  looking  vaguely  at  tlie  street,  I  noticed 
one  house  that  puzzled  me  somewhat;  and  thinking  that 
my  eyes  had  been  deceived,  I  looked  more  carefully  at  it, 
and  compared  it  with  its  neighbours.  Turning  into  the 
next  street,  the  same  thing  met  my  astonished  gaze. 
There  is  no  doubt  about  it ;  the  whole  city  of  Rotterdam 
presents  the  appearance  of  a  town  that  has  been  shaken 
smartly  by  an  earthquake,  and  is  on  the  point  of  falling 
into  ruin. 

All  the  houscvs — in  any  street  one  may  count  the  excep- 
tions on  their  fingers — lean  more  or  less,  but  the  greater 
part  of  them  so  much  that  at  the  roof  they  lean  forward 
at  least  a  foot  beyond  their  neighbours,  which  may  be 
straight,  or  not  so  visibly  inclined ;  one  leans  forward  as 
if  it  would  fall  into  the  street ;  another  backwards,  another 
to  the  left,  another  to  the  right,  at  some  points  six  or 


EOTTFBDAM,  41 

seven  contiguous  houses  all  lean  forward  togetlier,  tliose 
in  the  middle  most,  those  at  the  ends  less,  looking 
like  a  paling  with  the  crowd  pressing  against  it.  At 
another  point,  two  houses  lean  together  as  if  supporting 
one  another.  In  certain  streets  the  houses  for  a  long 
distance  lean  all  one  way,  like  trees  beaten  by  a  prevailing- 
wind;  and  then  another  long  row  will  lean  in  the  oppo- 
site direction,  as  if  the  wind  had  changed.  Sometimes 
there  is  a  certain  regularity  of  inclination  that  is  scarcely 
noticeable;  and  again,  at  crossings  and  in  the  smaller 
streets,  there  is  an  indescribable  confusion  of  lines,  a 
real  architectural  frolic,  a  dance  of  houses,  a  disorder 
that  seems  animated.  There  are  houses  that  nod  forwards 
as  if  asleep,  others  that  start  backwards  as  if  frightened, 
some  bending  towards  each  other,  their  roofs  almost 
touching,  as  if  in  secret  conference ;  some  falling  upon 
one  another  as  if  they  were  drunk,  some  leaning  back- 
wards between  others  that  lean  forwards  like  malefactors 
dragged  onwards  by  their  guards;  rows  of  houses  that 
curtsey  to  a  steeple,  groups  of  small  houses  all  inclined 
towards  one  in  the  middle,  like  conspirators  in  conclave. 

Observe  them  attentively  one  by  one,  from  top  to 
bottom,  and  they  are  as  interesting  as  pictures. 

In  some,  upon  the  summit  of  the  facade,  there  projects 
from  the  middle  of  the  parapet  a  beam,  with  cord  and 
pulley  to  pull  up  baskets  and  buckets.  In  others,  jutting 
from  a  round  window,  is  the  carved  head  of  a  deer,  a 
sheep,  or  a  goat.  Under  the  head,  a  line  of  whitewashed 
stone  or  wood  cuts  the  whole  fa9ade  in  half.  Under 
this   line   there  are  two  broad  windows  with   projecting 


42  HOLLAND. 

awnings  of  striped  linen.  Under  these  again,  over  the 
upper  panesj  a  little  green  curtain.  Below  tliis  green 
curtain,  two  white  ones,  divided  in  the  middle  to  show  a 
suspended  birdcage  or  a  basket  of  flowers.  And  below 
the  basket  or  the  cage,  the  lower  panes  are  covered  by  a 
network  of  fine  wire  that  prevents  the  passer-by  from 
seeing  into  the  room.  Within,  behind  the  netting,  there 
stands  a  table  covered  with  objects  in  porcelain,  crystal, 
flowers,  and  toys  of  various  kinds.  Outside,  on  the  stone 
sill,  is  a  row  of  small  flower-pots.  From  the  stone  sill, 
or  from  one  side,  projects  an  iron  stem  curving  upwards, 
which  sustains  two  small  mirrors  joined  in  the  form  of 
a  book,  movable,  and  surmounted  by  another,  also 
movable,  so  that  those  inside  the  house  can  see,  without 
being  seen,  everything  that  passes  in  the  street.  On  some 
of  the  houses  there  is  a  lamp  projecting  between  the 
two  windows,  and  below  is  the  door  of  the  house,  or  a 
shop-door.  If  it  is  a  shop,  over  the  door  there  is  the 
carved  head  of  a  Moor  with  his  mouth  wide  open,  or 
that  of  a  Turk  with  a  hideous  grimace ;  sometimes  there 
is  an  elephant,  or  a  goose;  sometimes  a  horse^s  or  a  bull's 
head,  a  serpent,  a  half-moon,  a  windmill,  or  an  arm  ex- 
tended, the  hand  holding  some  object  of  the  kind  sold  in 
the  shop.  If  it  is  the  house -door — always  kept  closed — 
there  is  a  brass  plate  with  the  name  of  the  occupant, 
another  with  a  slit  for  letters,  another  with  the  handle  of 
a  bell,  the  whole,  including  the  locks  and  bolts,  shining 
like  gold.  Before  the  door  there  is  a  small  bridge  of 
wood,  because  in  many  of  the  houses  the  ground-floor 
or  basement  is  much  lower  than  the  street ;  and  before 


BOTTEEBAM.  43 

the  bridge  two  little  stone  columns  surmounted  by  two 
balls;  two  more  columns  in  front  of  these  are  united  by 
iron  chains,  tbe  large  links  of  which  are  in  the  form  of 
crosses,  stars,  and  polygons;  in  the  space  between  the 
street  and  the  house,  are  pots  of  flowers  ;  and  at  the  win- 
dows of  the  ground-floor,  more  flower-pots  and  curtains. 
In  the  more  retired  streets  there  are  birdcages  on  both 
sides  of  the  windows,  boxes  full  of  green  growing  things, 
clothes  hung  out  to  air  or  dry,  a  thousand  objects  and 
colors,  like  a  universal  fair. 

But  without  going  out  of  the  older  town  one  need  only 
go  away  from  the  centre  to  see  something  new  at  every 
step. 

In  some  narrow  straight  streets  one  may  see  the  end 
suddenly  closed  as  if  by  a  curtain  concealing  the  view ; 
but  it  disappears  as  it  came,  and  is  recognised  as  the 
sail  of  a  vessel  moving  in  a  canal.  In  other  streets  a 
network  of  cordage  seems  to  stop  the  way ;  the  rigging 
of  vessels  Iving  in  some  basin.  In  one  direction  there 
is  a  draw-bridge  raised,  and  looking  like  a  gigantic 
swing  provided  for  the  diversion  of  the  people  who  live 
in  those  preposterous  houses;  and  in  another  there  is  a 
windmill,  tall  as  a  steeple  and  black  as  an  antique 
tower,  moving  its  arms  like  a  monstrous  firework.  On 
every  side,  finally,  among  the  houses,  above  the  roofs, 
between  the  distant  trees,  are  seen  masts  of  vessels, 
flags,  and  sails  and  rigging,  reminding  us  that  we  are 
surrounded  by  water  and  that  the  city  is  a  seaport. 

Meantime  the  shops  were  opened  and  the  streets 
became  full  of  people.     There  was  great  animation,  but 


44  HOLLAND. 

no  hurry,  the  absence  of  which  distiugaishes  the  streets 
of  Rotterdam  from  those  of  London_,  between  which 
some  travellers  find  great  resemblance,  especially  in  the 
color  of  the  houses  and  the  grave  aspect  of  the  inha- 
bitants. White  faces,  pallid  faces,  faces  the  color  of 
Parmesan  cheese ;  light  hair,  very  light  hair,  reddish, 
yellowish ;  broad  beardless  visages,  beards  under  the  chin 
and  around  the  neck;  blue  eyes,  so  light  as  to  seem 
almost  without  a  pupil ;  women  stumpy,  fat,  rosy,  slow, 
with  v»'hite  caps  and  ear-rings  in  the  form  of  cork- 
screws; these  are  the  first  things  one  observes  in  the 
crowd. 

But  for  the  moment  it  was  not  the  people  that  most 
stimulated  my  curiosity.  I  crossed  the  Hoog  Straat,  and 
found  myself  in  the  new  city.  Here  it  is  impossible  to 
say  if  it  be  port  or  city,  if  land  or  water  predominate, 
if  there  are  more  ships  than  houses,  or  vice  versa. 

Broad  and  long  canals  divide  the  city  into  so  many 
islands,  united  by  draw-bridges,  turning  bridges,  and 
bridges  of  stone.  On  either  side  of  every  canal  extends 
a  street,  flanked  by  trees  on  one  side  and  houses  on 
the  other.  All  these  canals  are  deep  enough  to  float 
large  vessels,  and  all  are  full  of  them  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  except  a  space  in  the  middle  left  for  passage  in 
and  out.     An  immense  fleet  imprisoned  in  a  city. 

When  I  arrived  it  was  the  busiest  hour,  so  I  planted 
myself  upon  the  highest  bridge  over  the  principal  cross- 
ing. From  thence  were  visible  four  canals,  four  forests 
of  ships,  bordered  by  eight  files  of  trees ;  the  streets  were 
crammed  with  people  and  merchandise ;  droves  of  cattle 


EOTTEBBAM.  45 

were  crossing  tlie  bridges;  bridges  were  rising  in  the  air, 
or  opening  in  the  middle,  to  allow  vessels  to  pass  through; 
and  were  scarcely  replaced  or  closed  before  they  ^Yere 
inundated  by  a  throng  of  people,  carts,  and  carriages ; 
ships  came  and  went  in  the  canals,  shining  like  models  in 
a  museum,  and  with  the  wives  and  children  of  the  sailors 
on  the  decks;  boats  darted  from  vessel  to  vessel;  the 
shops  drove  a  busy  trade ;  servant- women  washed  the 
walls  and  windows ;  and  all  this  moving  life  was  ren- 
dered more  gay  and  cheerful  by  the  reflections  in  the 
water,  the  green  of  the  trees,  the  red  of  the  houses,  the 
tall  windmills,  showing  their  dark  tops  and  white  sails 
against  the  azure  of  the  sky,  and  still  more  by  an  air  of 
quiet  simplicity  not  seen  in  any  other  northern  city. 

I  took  observations  of  a  Dutch  vessel.  Almost  all  the 
ships  crowded  in  the  canals  of  Rotterdam  are  built  for  the 
Rhine  and  Holland ;  they  have  one  mast  only,  and  are 
broad,  stout,  and  variously  colored  like  toy  ships.  The 
hull  is  generally  of  a  bright  grass  green,  ornamented  with 
a  red  or  a  white  stripe,  or  sometimes  several  stripes, 
looking  like  a  band  of  different  colored  ribbons.  The 
poop  is  usually  gilded.  The  deck  and  mast  are  varnished 
and  shining  like  the  cleanest  of  house-floors.  The  outside 
of  the  hatches,  the  buckets,  the  barrels,  the  yards,  the 
planks,  are  all  painted  red,  with  white  or  blue  stripes. 
The  cabin  where  the  sailors'  families  are  is  colored  like 
a  Chinese  kiosk,  and  has  its  windows  of  clear  glass,  and  it-^ 
white  muslin  curtains  tied  up  with  knots  of  rose-colored 
ribbon.  In  every  moment  of  spare  time,  sailors,  women, 
and  children  are  busy  washing,  sweeping,  polishing  every 


46  HOLLAND, 

part  with  infinite  care  and  pains ;  and  wlien  tlieir  little 
vessel  makes  its  exit  from  the  port^  all  fresh  and  shining 
like  a  holiday-coach_,  they  all  stand  on  the  poop  and  accept 
with  dignity  the  mnte  compliments  which  they  gather 
from  the  glances  of  the  spectators  along  the  canals. 

From  canal  to  canal,  and  from  bridge  to  bridge,  T 
finally  reached  the  dyke  of  the  Boompjes  npon  the  Meuse, 
where  boils  and  bubbles  all  the  life  of  the  great  commer- 
cial city.  On  the  left  extends  a  long  row  of  small  many- 
colored  steamboats,  which  start  every  hour  in  the  day 
for  Dordrecht,  Arnhem,  Gonda,  Schiedam,  Brilla,  Zealand, 
and  continually  send  forth  clouds  of  white  smoke  and  the 
sound  of  their  cheerful  bells.  To  the  right  lie  the  large 
ships  which  make  the  voyage  to  various  European  ports, 
mingled  with  fine  three-masted  vessels  bound  for  the  East 
Indies,  with  names  written  in  golden  letters — Java,  Su- 
matra, Borneo,  Samarang — carrying  the  fancy  to  those 
distant  and  savage  countries  like  the  echoes  of  distant 
voices.  In  front  the  Meuse,  covered  with  boats  and  barks, 
and  the  distant  shore  with  a  forest  of  beech  trees,  wind- 
mills, and  towers ;  and  over  all  the  unquiet  sky,  full  of 
gleams  of  light,  and  gloomy  clouds,  fleeting  and  changing 
in  their  constant  movement,  as  if  repeating  the  restless 
labour  on  the  earth  below. 

Rotterdam,  it  must  be  said  here,  is,  in  commercial  im- 
portance, the  first  city  in  Holland  after  Amsterdam.  It 
was  already  a  flourishing  town  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
Ludovico  Guicciardini,  in  his  work  on  the  Low  Conntries, 
already  cited,  adduces  a  proof  of  the  wealth  of  the  city 
m  the  sixteenth  century,  saying  that  in  one  year  nine 


ROTTERDAM,  47 

hundred  houses  tliat  had  been  destroyed  by  fire  were  re- 
built. Bentivoglio^  in  his  history  of  the  war  in  Flanders_, 
calls  it  "  the  largest  and  most  mercantile  of  the  lands  of 
Holland/^  But  its  greatest  prosperity  did  not  begin 
until  1830_,  or  after  the  separation  of  Holland  and  Bel- 
gium^ when  Piotterdam  seemed  to  draw  to  herself  every- 
thing that  was  lost  by  her  rival,,  Antwerp.  Her  situation 
is  extremely  advantageous.  She  communicates  with  the 
sea  by  the  Meuse,  which  brings  to  her  ports  in  a  few 
hours  the  largest  merchantmen  ;  and  by  the  same  river 
she  communicates  with  the  Rhine,  which  brings  to  her 
from  the  Swiss  mountains  and  Bavaria  immense  quantities 
of  timber — entire  forests  that  come  to  Holland  to  be  trans- 
formed into  ships,  dykes,  and  villages.  More  than  eighty 
splendid  vessels  come  and  go,  in  the  space  of  nine  months, 
between  Rotterdam  and  India.  Merchandise  flows  in 
from  all  sides  in  such  great  abundance  that  a  large  part  of 
it  has  to  be  distributed  through  the  neighbouring  towns. 
Meantime,  Rotterdam  is  growing ;  vast  store-houses  are 
now  in  process  of  construction,  and  the  works  are  com- 
menced for  an  enormous  bridge  which  will  cross  the 
Meuse  and  the  entire  city,  thus  extending  the  railway 
which  now  stops  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  if  not  to 
the  port  of  Delph,  at  least  to  its  junction  with  the  road 
to  the  Hague. 

Rotterdam,  in  short,  has  a  future  more  splendid  than 
that  of  Amsterdam,  and  has  long  been  regarded  as  a  lival 
by  her  elder  sister.  She  does  not  possess  the  wealth  of 
the  capital ;  but  is  more  industrious  in  increasing  wiiat 
she  has ;  she  dares,  risks,  undertakes,  like  a  young  and 


48  HOLLAND. 

adventurous  city.  Amsterdam,  like  a  merchant  grown 
cautious  after  having  made  his  fortune  by  hazardous 
undertakings,  begins  to  doze  over  her  treasures.  At  Rot- 
terdam fortunes  are  made ;  at  Amsterdam  they  are  conso- 
lidated ;  at  the  Hague  they  are  spent. 

It  may  be  understood  from  this  that  Rotterdam  is 
regarded  somewhat  in  the  light  of  2i  parvenu  by  the  other 
two  cities  ;  and  also  for  another  reason  :  that  she  is  simply  a 
trader,  occupied  only  in  trade,  and  has  but  little  aristo- 
cracy, and  that  little  modest  and  not  rich.  Amsterdam, 
on  the  contrary,  contains  the  flower  of  the  mercantile 
patriciate;  Amsterdam  has  picture  galleries,  protects  art 
and  literature ;  but  notwithstanding  her  superiority,  each 
is  jealous  of  the  other ;  what  one  does  the  other  tries  to 
do ;  what  the  Government  accords  to  one  the  other  wants 
also.  At  this  very  moment  (1874)  both  are  cutting  canals 
to  the  sea.  It  is  not  yet  quite  certain  what  use  can  be 
made  of  these  two  canals ;  but  that  does  not  matter.  So 
children  act :  Peter  has  a  horse,  I  want  a  horse  too,  and 
Grandpapa  Government  must  content  both  big  and  little. 

Having  visited  the  port,  I  traversed  the  dykes  of  the 
Boompjes,  along  which  extends  an  uninterrupted  line  of 
big  new  houses,  in  the  style  of  Paris  and  London,  houses 
which,  as  is  usual,  the  inhabitants  admire,  and  the 
stranger  never  looks  at,  or  looks  at  them  with  dislike; 
then  returning,  I  re-entered  the  city  and  came  to  the 
corner  formed  by  the  Hoog  Straat  and  one  of  the  two 
long  canals  that  bound  the  city  on  the  east.  It  is  the 
poorest  quarter  of  the  town ;  the  streets  are  narrow,  and 
the  houses  smaller  and  more  crooked  than  in  other  parts; 


■AL17W 


EOTTEBDAM.  49 

in  some  you  can  touch  the  roof  with  your  hand.  The 
windows  are  about  a  foot  from  the  ground,  and  the  doors 
so  low  that  you  must  stoop  to  enter  them.  Nevertheless, 
there  is  no  appearance  of  misery.  Even  here  the  windows 
have  their  small  looking-glasses — spies,  as  they  are  called 
in  Holland — their  flower-pots,  and  their  white  curtains ; 
and  the  doors,  painted  green  or  blue,  stand  wide  open, 
giving  a  view  of  the  bed-room,  the  kitchen,  all  the  internal 
arrangements ;  tiny  rooms  like  boxes,  but  everything  in 
them  ranged  in  order,  and  clean  and  bright  as  in  gentle- 
raen^s  houses.  There  is  no  dirt  in  the  streets,  no  bad 
smells,  not  a  rag  to  be  seen,  or  a  hand  held  out  to  beg ; 
there  is  an  atmosphere  of  cleaviliness  and  well-being  which 
makes  one  blush  for  the  miserable  quarters  where  the 
poor  are  crowded  in  our  cities,  not  excepting  Paris,  which 
has  its  Rue  Mouffetard. 

On  my  way  back  to  my  hotel  I  passed  through  the  great 
market-place  in  the  middle  of  the  city,  not  less  peculiar 
than  all  its  surroundings. 

It  is  both  a  public  square  and  a  bridge,  and  connects 
the  Hoog  Straat,  or  principal  dyke,  with  another  quarter 
of  the  city  surrounded  by  canals.  This  airy  place  is  bor- 
dered on  three  sides  by  old  buildings  and  a  long,  dark, 
narrow  canal,  like  a  street  in  Venice ;  the  fourth  side  is 
open  upon  a  kind  of  basin  formed  by  the  largest  canai, 
which  communicates  with  the  river  Mouse. 

In  the  middle  of  the  market-place,  surrounded  by  heaps 
of  vegetables,  fruit,  and  earthenware  pots  and  pans,  stands 
the  statue  of  Desiderius  Erasmus,  the  first  literary  light  of 
Holland;  that  Gerrit  Gerritz — for  he  assumed  the  Latin 


50  HOLLAND. 

name  himself^  according  to  the  custom  of  writers  in  his 
day — that  Gerrit  Gerritz  belonged^  by  his  education,  his 
style,  and  his  ideas^  to  the  family  of  the  humanists  and 
erudite  of  Italy ;  a  fine  writer,  profound  and  indefatigable 
in  letters  and  science,  he  filled  all  Europe  with  his  name 
between  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries;  he  was 
loaded  with  favours  by  the  popes,  and  sought  after  and 
entertained  by  princes ;  and  his  "  Praise  of  Folly,'-' 
written  in  Latin  like  the  rest  of  his  innumerable  works, 
and  dedicated  to  Sir  Thomas  More,  is  still  read.  The 
bronze  statue,  erected  in  1622,  represents  Erasmus  dressed 
in  a  furred  gown,  with  a  cap  of  the  same,  a  little  bent 
forward  as  if  walking,  and  in  the  act  of  reading  a  large 
book,  held  open  in  the  hand ;  the  pedestal  bears  a  double 
inscription,  in  Dutch  and  Latin,  calling  him,  "  Vir  saecidi 
sui  primarius  ^'  and  ''  Civis  omnium  prcestantissimus."  In 
spite  of  this  pompous  eulogium,  however,  poor  Erasmus, 
planted  there  like  a  municipal  guard  in  the  market-place, 
makes  but  a  pitiful  figure.  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is 
in  the  world  another  statue  of  a  man  of  letters  that  is, 
like  this,  neglected  by  the  passer-by,  despised  by  those 
about  it,  commiserated  by  those  who  look  at  it.  But 
who  knows  whether  Erasmus,  acute  philosopher  as  he  was, 
and  must  be  still,  be  not  contented  with  his  corner,  the 
more  that  it  is  not  far  from  his  own  house,  if  the  tradition 
is  correct  ?  In  a  small  street  near  the  market-place,  in 
the  wall  of  a  little  house  now  occupied  as  a  tavern,  there 
is  a  niche  with  a  bronze  statuette  representing  the  great 
writer,  and  under  it  the  inscription,  ^'  Hcec  est  parva 
domus  magnus  qua  natus  Erasmus,'' 


EOTTEEBAM.  51 

In  one  corner  of  this  square  there  is  a  little  house 
known  as  the  "  House  of  Fear/^  upon  the  wall  of  which 
may  be  seen  an  ancient  painting  whose  subject  I 
have  forgotten.  The  name  of  the  "  House  of  Fear'^  was 
given  to  it,  says  the  tradition,  because  when  the  Spaniards 
sacked  the  city  the  most  conspicuous  personages  took 
refuge  in  this  house  and  remained  shut  up  in  it  three  days 
without  food.  And  this  is  not  the  only  memorial  of  the 
Spaniards  at  Hotterdam.  Many  edifices,  built  during 
their  domination,  show  the  style  of  architecture  which 
was  then  in  use  in  Spain ;  and  some  still  bear  Spanish 
inscriptions.  In  Holland  inscriptions  upon  houses  are 
very  common.  They  glory  in  their  old  age  like  bottles  of 
wine,  and  bear  the  date  of  the  year  of  their  construction 
inscribed  in  large  characters  on  the  fa9ade. 

In  the  market-place  I  had  a  good  opportunity  for  ob- 
serving the  ear-rings  of  the  women,  which  are  well  worthy 
of  remark. 

At  Rotterdam  I  saw  only  the  ear-rings  in  use  in  South 
Holland ;  but  even  so,  their  variety  is  very  great.  They 
are  all  alike,  however,  in  one  particular,  that  instead  of 
being  in  the  ears,  they  are  attached  to  the  two  extremities 
of  an  ornament  in  gold,  silver,  or  gilt  copper,  which 
encircles  the  head  like  a  diadem  and  ends  on  the  temples. 
The  commonest  form  of  ear-ring  is  a  spiral  of  five  or  six 
rows,  often  very  large,  and  setting  out  on  either  side  of 
the  face  in  a  very  conspicuous  fashion.  Many  of  the 
women  wear  ordinary  ear-rings  ati?ached  to  these  spiral 
ornaments,  which  dangle  over  their  cheeks  and  fall  down 
upon  the  bosom.      Some  have  a  second  circlet  of  gold^ 


52  HOLLAND. 

much  chased  and  ornamented  with  flowers  and  buttons  in 
relief,,  that  passes  over  the  forehead.  Almost  all  wear  tlie 
hair  smooth  and  tight^  and  covered  with  a  night-cap  like 
head-dress  of  lace  and  muslin^  falling  in  a  sort  of  veil  over 
the  neck  and  shoulders.  This  Arab-like  veil  and  their 
extravagant  and  preposterous  ear-rings  give  them  a  mixed 
regal  and  barbaric  aspect,  which^  if  they  were  not  as  fair 
as  they  are,  might  cause  them  to  be  mistaken  for  the 
women  of  some  savage  country  who  had  preserved  the 
head-dress  of  their  ancient  costune.  I  do  not  wonder 
that  some  travellers,  seeing  them  for  the  first  time^  should 
have  believed  that  their  ear-rings  were  a  combination  of 
ornament  and  implement,  and  asked  their  purpose.  But 
we  may  also  suppose  that  they  serve  as  defensive  armSj 
since  any  impertinent  person,  who  should  put  his  face  too 
near  that  of  the  wearer,  would  find  his  approach  warded 
oif  by  these  impediments.  Worn  chiefly  by  the  peasants, 
these  ear-rings  and  their  accessories  are  generally  in  gold, 
and  cost  a  large  sura  ;  but  I  saw  still  greater  riches 
among  the  Dutch  peasantry. 

Near  the  market-place  is  the  cathedral,  founded  towards 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  at  the  time  of  the  decline 
of  Gothic  architecture,  then  a  Catholic  church  dedicated 
to  Saint  Lawrence,  and  now  the  first  Protestant  church  in 
the  city.  Protestantism,  that  vandal  of  religion,  entered 
the  ancient  churches  with  a  pick  and  a  white- wash  brush, 
and  with  pedantic  fanaticism  eradicated  everything  that 
was  beautiful  and  splAidid,  reducing  it  to  a  naked  white- 
ness and  coldness,  such  as  in  the  times  of  the  false  and 
lying  gods  might  have  suited  a  temple  sacred  to  the  god- 


EOTTEBJDAM.  63 

dess  of  Ennui.  An  immense  organ,  with  about  fifty 
thousand  pipes,  giving  among  other  sounds  the  effect  of 
an  echo;  some  tombs  of  admirals  adorned  with  long 
inscriptions  in  Dutch  and  Latin ;  numerous  benches ;  a 
few  boys  with  their  caps  on  their  heads ;  a  group  of  women 
chattering  together  in  loud  voices;  an  old  man  in  a  corner, 
with  a  cigar  in  his  mou':h ;  this  was  all  I  saw.  That  was 
the  first  Protestant  church  in  which  I  set  my  foot,  and  I 
confess  that  it  made  a  disagreeable  impression  upon  me. 
I  was  half  saddened,  half  scandalised.  I  compared  its  deso- 
late and  bare  interior  with  the  magnificent  cathedrals  of 
Spain  and  Italy,  where,  amid  the  soft  mysterious  light  and 
through  clouds  of  incense,  the  eye  encounters  the  loving 
looks  of  saints  and  angels  on  the  walls,  pointing  us  to 
heaven;  where  we  see  so  many  images  o£  innocence  that 
calm  our  souls,  and  of  pain  that  help  us  to  suffer,  while 
they  inspire  resignation,  peace,  the  sweetness  of  forgive- 
ness; where  the  homeless  and  the  hungry,  driven  from 
the  rich  man's  door,  may  pray  amid  marble  and  gold,  as 
in  a  kmgdom  where  he  is  not  disdained,  amid  a  pomp  and 
splendor  that  does  not  humiliate  him,  that  even  honours 
and  comforts  his  miserv  :  those  cathedrals  where  we  knelt 
as  children  at  our  mother's  side,  and  felt  for  the  first  time 
a  sweet  security  of  living  again  one  day  with  her  in  those 
azuxe  depths  depicted  upon  the  domes  above  our  heads. 
Coraparmg  the  church  with  those  cathedrals,  I  discovered 
that  1  was  a  better  Catholic  than  I  had  thought,  and  I  felt 
the  truth  of  those  words  of  Emilio  Castelar :  '^  Well,  yes,  I 
am  a  rationalist ;  but  if  one  day  I  should  wish  to  return 
into  +he  bosom  of  a  religion,  I  would  go  back  to  that 


54  HOLLAND. 

splendid  one  of  my  fathers,,  and  not  to  this  squalid  and 
naked  religion  that  saddens  my  eyes  and  my  heart ! '' 

From  the  top  of  the  tower^  the  whole  of  Rotterdam  can 
be  seen  at  a  glance,  with  all  its  little  sharp  red  roofs, 
its  broad  canals,  its  ships  scattered  among  houses,  and  all 
about  the  city  a  vast  green  plain,  intersected  by  canals 
bordered  by  trees,  sprinkled  with  windmills,  and  villages 
hidden  in  masses  of  verdure,  showing  only  the  tops  ot 
their  steeples.  When  I  was  there,  the  sky  was  clear,  and 
I  could  see  the  waters  of  the  Meuse  shining  from  the 
neighbourhood  of  Bois-le-Duc,  nearly  to  its  mouth ;  the 
steeples  of  Dordrecht,  Leyden,  Delft,  the  Hague,  and 
Gonda  were  visible,  but  neither  far  nor  near  was  there  a 
hill,  a  rising  ground,  a  swell  to  interrupt  the  straight  and 
rigid  line  of  the  horizon.  It  was  like  a  green  and  motion- 
less sea,  where  the  steeples  represented  masts  of  ships 
at  anchor.  The  eye  roamed  over  that  immense  space 
with  a  sense  of  repose,  and  I  felt  for  the  first  time,  that 
indefinable  sentiment  inspired  by  the  Dutch  landscape, 
which  is  neither  pleasure,  nor  sadness,  nor  ennui,  but  a 
mixture  of  all  three,  and  which  holds  you  for  a  long 
time  silent  and  motionless. 

Suddenly  I  was  startled  by  the  sound  of  strange  music 
coming  from  I  knew  not  where.  It  was  a  chime  of  belis 
ringing  a  lively  air,  the  silvery  notes  now  falbng  slowly 
one  by  one,  and  now  coming  in  groups,  in  strangfc 
flourishes,  in  trills,  in  sonorous  chords,  a  quaint  dancing; 
strain,  somewhat  primitive  like  the  many-colored  city, 
on  which  its  notes  hovered  like  a  flock  of  wild  birds,  or 
like  the  city's  natural  voice,  an  echo  of  the  antique  lire 


BOTTEEDAM.  55 

of  lier  people,  recalling  the  sea,  tlie  solitudes^  the  huts,  and 
making  one  smile  and  sigh  at  the  same  moment.  All  at  once 
the  music  ceased,  and  the  clock  struck  the  hour.     At  the 
same  moment  other  steeples  took   up   the  airy  strains, 
playing  airs  of  which  only  the  higher  notes  reached  my 
cars,  and  then  they  also  struck  the  hour.    This  aerial  con- 
cert is  repeated  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night,  in  all 
the  steeples  of  Holland,  the  tunes  being  national  airs,  or 
from  German  or  Italian  operas.    Thus  in  Holland  the  pass- 
ing hour  sings,  as  if  to  distract  the  mind  from  sad  thoughts 
of  flying  time,  and  its  song  is  of  country,  faith,  and  love, 
floating  in  harmony  above  the  sordid  noises  of  the  earth. 
The    Hollanders    eat   a    great    deal.     Their    greatest 
pleasures,  as  Cardinal  Bentivoglio  says,  are  those  of  the 
table.     Their  appetites  are  voracious,  and  they  care  more 
for  quantity  than  quality.     In  the  old  time  they  were 
laughed  at  by  their  neighbours,  not  only  for  the  rudeness 
of  their  manners,  but  for  the  simplicity  of  their  nutri- 
ment, and  were  called  milk  and  cheese  eaters.     They  eat, 
in  general,  five  times  a  day ;   at  breakfast,  tea,  coflee,  milk, 
bread,  cheese,  and  butter;  a  little  before  noon  a  good 
luncheon ;   before  dinner,  what  might  be  called  a  bite,  a 
biscuit  and  a  glass  of  wine ;  then  a  large  dinner ;  and  late 
in  the  evening,  supper,  just  so  as  not  to  go  to  bed  with 
an  empty  stomach.     They  eat  together  on  every  occasion. 
1  do  not  speak  of  birth  and  marriage  feasts,  which  are  cus- 
tomary in  all  countries ;  but,  for  example,  they  have  funeral 
feasts.    It  is  the  custom  for  the  friends  and  acquaintances 
who  have  acccompanied  the  funeral  procession,  to  return 
with  the  family  of  the  defunct  to  their  house,  and  there 


56  HOLLAND. 

to  eat  and  drink^  doing  in  general  great  honor  to  tlieii* 
entertainer.  If  there  were  no  other  witnesses^  the  Dutch 
painters  all  bear  testimony  to  the  large  part  which  the 
table  holds  in  the  life  of  the  people.  Besides  the  infinite 
number  of  pictures  of  domestic  subjects^  in  which  it 
might  be  said  that  the  plate  and  the  bottle  are  the  pru- 
tagonistSj  almost  all  the  great  pictures  that  represent  his- 
torical subjects,  burgomasters,  civic  guards,  show  them 
seated  at  table  in  the  act  of  biting,  cutting,  pouring  out. 
Even  their  great  hero,  William  the  Taciturn,  the  incarna- 
tion of  new  Holland,  was  an  example  of  this  national 
fondness  for  eating,  and  his  cook  was  the  first  artist  of 
his  time ;  so  great  a  one  that  the  German  princes  sent 
beginners  to  perfect  themselves  in  his  school,  and 
Philip  II.,  in  one  of  his  periods  of  apparent  reconciliation 
with  his  mortal  enemy,  asked  for  the  cook  as  a  present. 

But,  as  has  been  said,  fhe  character  of  Dutch  cookery 
was  rather  abundance  than  refinement.  The  French, 
who  understand  the  art,  found  much  to  criticise.  I  remem- 
ber a  writer  of  certain  "  Memoirs  sur  la  Hollande,"  who 
inveighs  with  lyric  force  against  the  Dutch  kitchen,  say- 
ing :  "  What  is  this  beer  soup  ?  this  mingling  of  meats  and 
sweets  ?  this  devouring  of  meat  in  such  quantity  without 
bread  ?■*'  Other  writers  have  spoken  of  dining  in  this 
country  as  of  a  domestic  calamity.  It  is  superfluous  to 
say  that  all  this  is  exaggeration.  An  ultra-delicate 
palate  can  in  a  short  time  become  accustomed  to  Dutch 
cookery.  The  foundation  of  the  dinner  is  always  a  dish 
of  meat,  with  which  are  served  four  or  five  dishes  of  vege- 
tables er  salted  meatSj  of  which  each  one  takes  and  com- 


BOTTEBBAM.  57 

oines  as  he  likes  with  the  principal  dish.  The  meat  is 
very  good,  and  the  vegetables  are  exquisite,  and  cooked  in 
a  great  variety  of  vrays  ;  the  potatoes  and  cabbages  are 
worthy  of  special  mention,  and  the  art  of  making  an  omelet 
is  perfectly  understood. 

I  say  nothing  of  game,  fish,  milk,  and  butter,  because 
all  these  are  already  known  to  fame ;  and  I  am  silent, 
not  to  be  carried  away  by  enthusiasm,  on  the  subject  of 
that  celebrated  cheese,  wherein  when  once  you  have  thrust 
your  knife  you  can  never  leave  off  until  you  have  exca- 
vated the  whole,  while  desire  still  hovers  over  the  shell. 

A  stranger  dining  for  the  first  time  in  a  Dutch  tavern 
sees  a  few  novelties.  First  of  all  he  is  struck  by  the  great 
size  and  thickness  of  the  plates,  proportionate  to  the 
national  appetite  ;  and  in  many  places  he  will  find  a 
napkin  o£  fine  white  paper,  folded  in  a  three-cornered 
shape,  and  stamped  with  a  border  of  flowers,  a  little 
landscape  in  the  corner,  and  the  name  of  the  hotel 
or  cafe,  with  a  Bon  appeiit  in  large  blue  letters.  The 
stranger,  to  be  sure  of  his  facts,  will  order  roast  beef,' 
and  they  will  bring  him  half-a-dozen  slices,  as  large  as 
cabbage-leaves  j  or  a  beefsteak,  and  he  is  presented 
with  a  sort  of  cushion  of  bleeding  meat,  enough  to  satisfy 
a  family  ;  or  fish,  and  there  appears  a  marine  animal 
as  long  as  the  table ;  and  with  each  of  these  comes 
a  mountain  of  boiled  potatoes  and  a  pot  of  vigorous 
mustard.  Of  bread,  a  little  thin  slice  about  as  big  as 
a  dollar,  most  displeasing  to  us  Latins,  whose  habit  it  is 
to  devour  bread  in  quantities ;  so  that  in  a  Dutch  tavern 
oue  must  be  constantly  asking  for  more,  to  the  great 


58  HOLLAND. 

amazement  of  the  waiters.  With  any  one  of  these  three 
dishes,  and  a  glass  o£  Bavarian  or  Amsterdam  beer,  an 
honest  man  mav  be  said  to  have  dined.  As  for  wine,  who- 
ever  has  the  cramp  in  his  purse  will  not  talk  of  wine  in 
Holland,  since  it  is  extremely  dear ;  but  as  purses  here 
are  pretty  generally  robust,  almost  all  middle-class 
Dutchmen  and  their  betters  drink  it ;  and  there  are  cer- 
tainly few  countries  where  so  great  a  variety  and  abun- 
dance of  foreign  wines  are  found  as  in  Holland,  French 
and  Rhine  wines  especially. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  Holland  is  famous  for  its 
liquors,  and  that  the  most  famous  of  all  is  that  called, 
from  the  little  town  where  it  is  manufactured,  Schiedam. 
There  are  two  hundred  manufactories  of  it  at  Schiedam, 
which  is  distant  but  a  few  miles  from  Rotterdam;  and  to 
give  an  idea  of  the  quantity  made,  I  need  only  mention 
that  thirty  thousand  swine  are  fed  yearly  with  the  refuse 
of  the  distilleries.  This  famous  liquor,  when  tasted  for 
the  first  time,  is  usually  accompanied  by  a  triple  oath  that 
the  taster  will  never  drink  another  drop  of  it,  if  he  live 
a  hundred  years  ;  but  as  the  French  proverb  says,  ^'  Who 
drinks,  will  drink  again,^^  and  one  begins  the  second  time 
with  a  morsel  of  sugar,  and  then  with  less,  and  finally 
with  none,  until  at  last,  horribile  dictu,  on  pretence  of 
damp  and  fog,  one  swallows  two  small  glasses  with  the 
ease  of  a  sailor.  Next,  in  order  of  excellence,  comes 
Cura9oa,  a  fine,  feminine  liquor,  less  powerful  than  the 
Schiedam,  but  very  much  more  so  than  the  sickly  sweet 
stuff"  that  is  sold  under  its  name  in  other  countries.  After 
Cura9oa  come  many  more,  of  all  grades  of  strength  and 


ROTTERDAM.  59 

flavor,  with  which  an  expert  drinker  can  give  himself, 
according  to  his  fancy,  all  the  shades  of  inebriety ;  the 
mild,  the  strong,  the  talkative,  the  silent,  and  thus  dis- 
pose his  brains  in  such  a  way  that  he  may  see  the  world 
according  as  best  suits  his  humor,  as  one  arranges  an 
optical  instrument,  changing  the  colors  of  the  lenses. 

The  first  time  one  dines  in  Holland  there  is  a  surprise 
at  the  moment  of  paying  the  bill.  I  had  made  a  repast 
that  would  have  been  scanty  for  a  Batavian  but  was 
quite  sufficient  for  an  Italian,  and,  from  what  I  knew 
of  the  dearness  of  everything  in  Holland,  T  expected  one 
of  those  shocks  to  which,  according  to  Theophile  Gau- 
thier,  the  only  possible  answer  is  a  pistol-shot.  I  was, 
then,  pleasantly  surprised  when  I  was  told  that  my 
account  was  forty  cents,  quarante  sous ;  and  as  in  the 
great  cities  of  Holland  every  kind  of  coin  is  current,  I 
put  down  two  silver  francs,  and  waited  for  my  friend  to 
discover  that  he  had  made  a  mistake.  Bat  he  looked 
at  the  mone^  without  any  sign  of  reconsideration,  and 
remarked  with  gravity  :  "  Forty  sous  more,  if  you  please."" 

The  explanation  Avas  simple  enough.  The  monetary 
unit  in  Holland  is  the  florin,  which  is  worth  t«^o  Italian 
Ih'e  (francs,)  and  four  centmies ;  consequently  the  Dutch 
sou  and  cenrime,  are  worth  just  double  the  Italian  soldo 
and  centime ;  hence  my  delusion  and  its  cure. 

Rotterdam  in  the  evening  presents  an  unusual  aspect  to 
the  stranger's  eye.  Whilst  in  other  northern  cities  at  a 
certain  hour  of  the  night  all  the  life  is  concentred  in  the 
houses,  at  Rotterdam  at  that  hour  it  expands  into  the 
streets.     The  Hoog-straat  is  filled  until  far  into  the  night 


60  HOLLAND. 

with  a  dense  throng,  the  shops  are  open,  because  the 
servants  make  their  purchases  in  the  evening,  and  the 
cafes  crowded.  Dutch  cafes  are  peculiar.  In  general 
there  is  one  long  room,  divided  in  the  middle  by  a  green 
curtain,  which  is  drawn  down  at  evening  and  conceals  the 
back  part,  which  is  the  only  part  lighted ;  the  front  part, 
closed  from  the  street  by  large  glass  doors,  is  in  darkness, 
so  that  from  without  only  dark  shadowy  forms  can  be 
seen,  and  the  burning  points  of  cigars,  like  so  many  fire- 
flies. Among  these  dark  forms,  the  vague  profile  of  a 
woman  who  prefers  darkness  to  light  may  be  detected 
here  and  there. 

Next  in  interest  after  the  cafe  come  the  tobacco  shops. 
There  is  one  at  almost  every  step,  and  they  are  without 
exception  the  finest  in  Europe,  even  surpassing  the  great 
tobacco  shops  of  Madrid,  where  Havanna  tobacco  is  sold. 
In  these  shops,  resplendent  with  lights  like  the  Parisian 
cafes  may  be  found  cigars  of  every  form  and  flavor ;  and 
the  courteous  merchant  hands  you  your  purchase  neatly 
done  up  in  fine  thin  paper,  after  having  cut  ofi*  the  end 
of  one  cigar  with  a  little  machine. 

Dutch  shops  are  illuminated  in  the  most  splendid 
manner ;  and  although  in  themselves  they  differ  but  little 
from  those  of  other  European  cities,  they  still  have  a  pecu- 
liar aspect  at  night  because  of  the  contrast  between  the 
ground-floor  and  the  rest  of  the  house.  Below  all  is  light, 
color,  splendor,  and  crystal;  above,  the  dark  house- 
front,  with  its  strange  angles,  steps,  and  curves  The  upper 
part  is  old  Holland — simple,  dark  and  silent ;  the  lower 
part  is  the  new — life^,  fashion,  luxury,  elegance.     Besides 


ROTTERDAM.  61 

this,  as  all  the  houses  are  very  narrow,  and  the  shops 
occupy  the  entire  ground-floor,  and  are  set  closely  one 
beside  the  other,  at  night,  in  streets  like  the  Hoog-straat, 
there  is  not  a  bit  of  wall  to  be  seen,  the  houses  seem  to  have 
their  ground-floors  built  of  glass,  and  the  street  is  bor- 
dered on  either  side  by  two  long  lines  of  brilliant  illumi- 
nation, inundating  it  with  light,  so  that  anyone  can  see  to 
pick  up  a  pin. 

Walking  through  Rotterdam  in  the  evening,  it  is  evi- 
dent that  the  city  is  teeming  with  life  and  in  process 
of  expansion;  a  youthful  city,  still  growing,  and  feeling 
herself  every  year  more  and  more  pressed  for  room  in  her 
streets  and  houses.  In  a  not  far  distant  future,  her  hun- 
hundred  and  fourteen  thousand  inhabitants  will  have 
increased  to  two  hundred  thousand.  The  smaller  streets 
swarm  with  children  ;  there  is  an  overflow  of  life  and 
movement  that  cheers  the  eye  and  heart ;  a  kind  of  holi- 
day air.  The  white  and  rosy  faces  of  the  servant-maids, 
whose  white  caps  gleam  on  every  side ;  the  serene  visages 
of  shopkeepers  slowly  imbibing  great  glassfuls  of  beer; 
the  peasants  with  their  monstrous  ear-rings ;  the  cleanli- 
ness; the  flowers  in  the  window^s;  the  tranquil  and 
laborious  throng :  all  give  to  Rotterdam  an  aspect  of 
healthful  and  peaceful  content,  which  brings  to  the  lips 
the  chant  of  Te  Beata,  not  with  the  cry  of  enthusiasm, 
but  with  the  smile  of  sympathy. 

When  I  came  back  to  my  hotel,  I  found  a  French 
family  occupied  in  the  hall  admiring  the  nails  in  a  door, 
which  looked  like  so  many  silver  buttons. 

The  next  morning,  looking   out   of  my  window  on  the 


62  HOLLAND. 

second  floor^  and  observing  the  roofs  of  tlie  opposite 
Louses,,  I  recognised^  with  astonishment^  that  Bismarck 
was  excusable  when  he  imagined  that  he  saw  spectres  on 
the  roofs  of  the  Rotterdam  houses.  From  every  chimney 
of  all  the  older  buildings  rise  tubes,  curved  or  straight, 
crossing  and  recrossing  each  other  like  open  arms,  like 
enormous  horns,  forked,  and  in  every  kind  of  fantastic 
attitude,  and  looking  very  much  as  if  they  had  a  mutual 
understanding  and  might  fly  about  at  night  with  brooms. 

Upon  descending  into  the  Hoog-straat,  I  found  it  was 
a  holiday  and  very  few  shops  were  open ;  but  even  those 
few,  I  was  told,  would  have  been  closed  not  many  years 
ago :  the  observance  of  religious  forms,  which  had  once 
been  very  rigorous,  beginning  to  relax.  I  saw  signs  of 
holiday  in  the  dress  of  the  people,  especially  the  men, 
who — above  all,  those  of  the  inferior  classes — have  a  mani- 
fest sympathy  for  black  clothes,  and  generally  wear  them 
on  a  Sunday :  black  cravat,  black  trousers,  and  a  long 
black  surtout  reaching  to  the  knee — a  costume  which, 
combined  with  their  slow  motions  and  grave  faces,  gives 
them  rather  the  look  of  a  village  mayor  on  his  way  to 
assist  at  an  official  Te  Deum. 

But  what  astonished  me  was  to  see,  at  that  early  hour, 
almost  everyone,  rich  and  poor,  men  and  boys,  with  a  cigar 
in  their  mouths.  This  ill-omened  habit  of  "  dreaming 
with  the  eyes  open,^'  to  quote  Emile  de  Girardin  in  his 
attack  upon  smokers,  occupies  so  large  a  part  in  the  lives 
of  the  Dutcli  people,  that  I  must  devote  a  few  words 
to  it. 

The  Hollanders  are,  perhaps,  of  all  the  northern  peoples, 


ROTTERDAM.  63 

those  "who  smoke  the  most.  The  humidity  of  their  cli- 
mate makes  it  almost  a  necessity^  and  the  very  moderate 
cost  of  tobacco  renders  it  accessible  to  all.  To  show  how 
deeply  rooted  is  the  habit^  it  is  enough  to  say  that  the 
boatmen  of  the  treschknitj  the  aquatic  diligence  of  Hol- 
land^ measure  distances  by  smoke.  From  here,  they  say, 
to  such  and  such  a  place,  it  is,  not  so  many  miles,,  but  so 
many  pipes.  When  you  enter  a  house,  after  the  first  salu- 
tations, your  host  offers  you  a  cigar;  when  you  take 
leave,  he  hands  you  another,  and  often  insists  upon  filling 
your  cigar-case.  In  the  streets  you  see  persons  lighting  a 
fresh  cigar  with  the  burning  stump  of  the  last  one,  with- 
out pausing  in  their  walk,  and  with  the  busy  air  of  people 
who  do  not  wish  to  lose  a  moment  of  time  or  a  mouthful 
of  smoke.  Many  go  to  sleep  with  pipe  in  mouth,  relight 
it  if  they  wake  in  the  night,  and  again  in  the  morning  before 
they  step  out  of  bed.  "  A  Dutchman,'^  says  Diderot,  ''  is 
a  living  alembic.^^  It  really  does  appear  that  smoking  is 
for  him  a  necessary  vital  function.  Many  people  think  that 
so  much  smoke  dulls  the  intelligence.  Nevertheless,  if  there 
be  a  people,  as  Esquiroz  justly  observes,  whose  intellect  is 
of  the  clearest  and  highest  precision,  it  is  the  Dutch  people. 
Again,  in  Holland  the  cigar  is  not  an  excuse  for  idleness, 
nor  do  they  smoke  in  order  to  dream  with  their  eyes  open ; 
everyone  goes  about  his  business  puflSng  out  white  clouds 
of  smoke,  with  the  regularity  of  a  factory  chimney,  and 
the  cigar,  instead  of  being  a  mere  distraction,  is  a  stimulant 
and  an  aid  to  labour.  "  Smoke,'^  said  a  Hollander  to  me, 
"  is  our  second  breath. '^  Another  defined  the  cigar  as  tlie 
sixth  finger  of  the  hand. 


64  HOLLAND. 

Here,  apropos  of  tobacco,  I  am  tempted  to  record  tlie 
life  and  death  of  a  famous  Dutcli  smoker;  but  I  am  a 
little  afraid  of  the  shrugs  of  my  Dutch  friends,  who, 
relating  to  me  the  story,  lamented  much  that  when 
foreigners  wrote  about  Holland  they  were  so  apt  to  neg- 
lect things  important  and  honorable  to  the  country, 
while  they  occupied  themselves  with  trifles  of  that  nature. 
It  appears  to  me,  however,  to  be  a  trifle  of  so  new  and 
original  a  type,  that  I  cannot  restrain  my  pen. 

There  was,  then,  once  upon  a  time,  a  rich  gentleman 
of  Rotterdam,  of  the  name  of  Van  Klaes,  who  was  sur- 
named  Father  Great-pipe  because  he  was  old,  fat,  and 
a  great  smoker.  Tradition  relates  that  he  had  honestly 
amassed  a  fortune  as  a  merchant  in  India,  and  that  he 
was  a  kind-hearted  and  good-tempered  man.  On  his 
return  from  India,  he  built  a  beautiful  palace  near 
Rotterdam,  and  in  this  palace  he  collected  and  arranged, 
as  in  a  museum,  all  the  models  of  pipes  that  had 
ever  seen  the  sun  in  all  countries  and  in  every  time, 
from  those  used  by  the  antique  barbarian  to  smoke  his 
hemp,  up  to  the  splendid  pipes  of  meerschaum  and 
amber,  carved  in  relief  and  bound  with  gold,  such  as  are 
seen  in  the  richest  Parisian  shops.  The  museum  was 
open  to  strangers,  and  to  everyone  who  visited  it,  Van 
Klaes,  after  having  displayed  his  vast  erudition  in  the 
matter  of  smoking,  presented  a  catalogue  of  the  museum 
bound  in  velvet,  and  filled  his  pockets  with  cigars  and 
tobacco. 

Mynheer  Van  Klaes  smoked  a  hundred  and  fifty 
grammes  of  tobacco  per  day,  and  died  at  the  age  of  ninety- 


nOTTEUBAM,  65 

eight  years ;  so  that^  if  we  suppose  that  he  began  to  smoke 
at  eighteen  years  of  age,  in  the  coarse  of  his  life  he  had 
smoked  four  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty- three 
kilogammes ;  with  which  quantity  of  tobacco  an  uninter- 
rupted black  line  of  twenty  French  leagues  in  length 
might  be  formed.  With  all  this,  Mynheer  Van  Klaes 
showed  himself,  a  much  greater  smoker  in  death  than 
he  had  been  in  life.  Tradition  has  preserved  all  the 
particulars  of  his  end.  There  wanted  but  a  few  days 
to  the  completion  of  his  ninety- eighth  year,  when  he 
suddenly  felt  that  his  end  was  approaching.  He  sent 
for  his  notary,  who  was  also  a  smoker  of  great  merit, 
and  without  further  preamble,  '^  My  good  notary,'^  said 
he,  ^^fill  my  pipe  and  your  own;  I  am  about  to  die." 
The  notary  obeyed ;  and  when  both  pipes  were  lighted. 
Van  Klaes  dictated  his  will,  which  became  celebrated  all 
over  Holland. 

After  having  disposed  of  a  large  part  of  his  property 
in  favour  of  relations,  friends,  and  hospitals,  he  dictated 
the  following  article  : — 

"  I  desire  that  all  the  smokers  in  the  country  shall 
be  invited  to  my  funeral,  by  all  possible  means,  news- 
papers, private  letters,  circulars,  and  advertisements. 
Every  smoker  who  shall  accept  the  invitation  shall 
receive  a  gift  of  ten  pounds  of  tobacco  and  two  pipes, 
upon  which  shall  be  engraved  my  name,  my  arms,  and 
the  date  of  my  death.  The  poor  of  the  district  who 
shall  follow  my  body  to  the  grave  shall  receive  each 
man,  every  year,  on  the  anniversary  of  my  death,  a 
large  parcel  of  tobacco.     To  all  those  who  shall  be  pre- 


66  HOLLAND. 

sent  at  the  funeral  ceremonies_,  I  make  the  condition,  if  tliey 
wish  to  benefit  by  my  will,  that  they  shall  smoke  uninter- 
ruptedly throughout  the  duration  of  the  ceremony.  My 
body  shall  be  enclosed  in  a  case  lined  inside  with  the 
wood  of  my  old  Havana  cigar-boxes.  At  the  bottom  of 
the  case  shall  be  deposited  a  box  of  French  tobacco  called 
caporalj  and  a  parcel  of  our  old  Dutch  tobacco.  At  my 
side  shall  be  laid  my  favorite  pipe  and  a  box  of  matches^ 
because  no  one  knows  what  may  happen.  When  the 
coffin  is  deposited  in  the  vault,  every  person  present  shall 
pass  by  and  cast  upon  it  the  ashes  of  his  pipe." 

The  last  will  and  testament  of  Mynheer  Van  Klaes  was 
rigorously  carried  out;  the  funeral  was  splendid  and 
veiled  in  a  thick  cloud  of  smoke.  The  cook  of  the 
defunct,  who  was  called  Gertrude,  to  whom  her  master 
had  left  a  comfortable  income,  on  condition  that  she 
should  conquer  her  aversion  to  tobacco,  accompanied  the 
procession  with  a  paper  cigarette  in  her  mouth ;  the  poor 
blessed  the  memory  of  the  beneficent  deceased,  and  the 
whole  country  rang  with  his  praises,  as  it  still  rings  with 
his  fame. 

Passing  along  the  canal  I  saw,  with  new  efi'ects,  one  of 
those  rapid  changes  of  weather  that  I  have  mentioned. 
All  at  once  the  sun  vanished,  the  infinite  variety  of  colors 
were  dimmed,  and  an  autumn  wind  began  to  blow.  Then 
to  the  cheerful,  tranquil  gaiety  of  a  moment  before  suc- 
ceeded a  kind  of  timid  agitation.  The  branches  of  the 
trees  rustled,  the  flags  of  the  ships  streamed  out,  the  boats 
tied  to  the  piles  danced  about,  the  water  trembled,  the 
thousand  small  objects  about  the  houses  swung  to  and  fro. 


EOTTEEDAM.  6? 

the  arms  o£  the.  windmills  whirled  more  rapidly;  a  wintry 
chill  seemed  to  run  through  the  whole  city  and  moved  it 
as  if  with  a  mysterious  menace.  After  a  moment,  the 
sun  burst  out  again,  and  with  it  came  color,  peace,  and 
cheer.  The  spectacle  made  me  think  that,  after  all,  Hol- 
land is  not,  as  many  call  it,  a  dreary  country ;  but  rather, 
very  dreary  at  times,  and  at  times  very  gay,  according  to 
the  weather.  It  is  in  everything  the  land  of  contrasts. 
Under  the  most  capricious  of  skies  dwell  the  least  capri- 
cious of  peoples  ;  and  this  solid,  resolute,  and  orderly  race, 
has  the  most  helter-skelter  and  disorderly  architecture 
that  can  be  seen  in  the  world. 

Before  entering  the  Rotterdam  Museum,  a  few  observa- 
tions upon  Dutch  painting  seem  opportune,  not  for 
"  those  who  know,"*^  be  it  understood,  but  for  those  who 
have  forgotten. 

The  Dutch  school  of  painting  has  one  quality  which 
renders  it  particularly  attractive  to  -us  Italians  :  it  is  of 
all  others  the  most  different  from  our  own,  the  very  anti- 
thesis, or  the  opposite  pole  of  art.  The  Dutch  and 
Italian  schools  are  the  two  most  original,  or,  as  has  been 
said,  the  only  two  to  which  the  title  rigorously  belongs; 
the  others  being  only  daughters,  or  younger  sisters,  more 
or  less  resembling  them. 

Thus  even  in  painting  Holland  offers  that  which  is 
most  sought  after  in  travel  and  iu  books  of  travel :  the 
new. 

Dutch  painting  was  born  with  the  liberty  and  inde- 
pendence of  Holland.  As  long  as  the  northern  and 
southern  provinces  of  the  Low  Countries  remained  under 


68  HOLLAND. 

the  Spanish  rule  and  in  the  Catholic  faith,  Dutch  painters 
painted  like  Belgian  painters;  they  studied  in  Belgium, 
Germany,  and  Italy ;  Hemskerk  imitated  Michael  Angclo  ; 
Bloemart  followed  Correggio,  and  "II  Moro^'  copied 
Titian,  not  to  indicate  others ;  and  they  were  one  and  all 
pedantic  imitators,  who  added  to  the  exaggerations  of  the 
Italian  style  a  certain  German  coarseness,  the  result  of 
which  was  a  bastard  style  of  painting,  still  inferior  to  the 
first,  childish,  stiff  in  design,  crude  in  color,  and  com- 
pletely wanting  in  chiaroscuro,  but  not,  at  least,  a  servile 
imitation,  and  becoming,  as  it  were,  a,  faint  prelude  of  the 
true  Dutch  art  that  was  to  be. 

With  the  war  of  independence,  liberty,  reform,  and 
painting  also  were  renewed.  With  religious  traditions  fell 
artistic  traditions ;  the  nude  nymphs.  Madonnas,  saints, 
allegory,  mythology,  the  ideal — all  the  old  edifice  fell  to 
pieces.  Holland,  animated  by  a  new  life,  felt  the  need  of 
][na,nifesting  and  expanding  it  in  a  new  way;  the  small 
country,  become  all  at  once  glorious  and  formidable,  felt 
the  desire  for  illustration ;  the  faculties,  which  had  been 
excited  and  strengthened  in  the  grand  undertaking  of 
creating  a  nation,  now  that  the  work  was  completed,  over- 
flowed and  ran  into  new  channels;  the  conditions  of  the 
country  were  favourable  to  the  revival  of  art ;  the  supreme 
dangers  were  conjured  away ;  there  was  security,  pros- 
perity, a  splendid  future;  the  heroes  had  done  their  duty, 
and  the  artists  were  permitted  to  come  to  the  front ; 
Holland,  after  many  sacrifices  and  much  suffering,  issued 
victoriously  from  the  struggle,  lifted  her  face  among  her 
people  and  smiled.     And  that  smile  is  Art. 


BOTTEBDAM.  69 

What  tliat  art  would  necessarily  be^  miglit  liave  been 
guessed^  even  had  no  monument  of  it  remained.  A  pacific, 
laborious,  practical  people,  continually  beaten  down,  to  quote 
a  great  German  poet,  to  prosaic  realities  by  the  occupation  '. 
of  a  vulgar,  burgher  Life;  cultivating  its  reason  at  the  ex- 
pense of  its  imagination;  living,  consequently,  more  in  clca  ■ 
ideas  than  in  beautiful  images ;  taking  refuge  from  abstrac- 
tions; never  darting  its  thoughts  beyond  that  nature  with 
which  it  is  in  perpetual  battle ;  seeing  only  that  which  is, 
enjoying  only  that  which  it  can  possess,  making  its  happi- 
ness consist  in  the  tranquil  ease  and  honest  sensuality  of 
a  life  without  violent  passions  or  exorbitant  desires ; 
such  a  people  must  have  tranquillity  also  in  their  art,  they 
must  love  an  art  that  pleases  without  startling  the  mind, 
which  addresses  the  senses  rather  than  the  spirit,  an  art 
full  of  repose,  precision,  and  delicacy,  though  material  like 
their  lives :  in  one  word,  a  realistic  art  in  which  they  can 
see  themselves  as  they  are,  and  as  they  are  content  to  be. 

The  artists  began  by  tracing  that  which  they  saw  before 
their  eyes — the  house.  The  long  winters,  the  persistent 
lains,  the  dampness,  the  variableness  of  the  climate, 
obliged  the  Hollander  to  stay  within  doors  the  greater 
part  of  the  year.  He  loved  his  little  house,  his  shell, 
much  better  than  we  love  our  abodes,  for  the  reason  that 
he  had  more  need  of  it,  and  stayed  more  within  it ;  he  pro- 
vided it  with  all  sorts  of  conveniences,  caressed  it,  made 
much  of  it ;  he  liked  to  look  out  from  his  well-stopped 
windows  at  the  falling  snow,  and  the  drenching  rain,  and 
to  hug  himself  with  the  thought,  "  Rage,  tempest,  I  am 
warm  and  safe  !  '^     Snug  in  his  shell,  his  faithful  house- 


70  HOLLAND, 

wife  beside  him^  his  children  about  him_,  he  passed  the 
long  autumn  and  winter  evenings  in  eating  much,  drinking 
much,  smoking  much,  and  taking  his  well-earned  ease 
after  the  cares  of  the  day  were  over.  The  Dutch  painters 
represented  these  houses  and  this  life  in  little  pictures  pro- 
portionate to  the  size  of  the  walls  on  which  they  were  to 
hang :  the  bed-chambers  that  make  one  feel  a  desire 
to  sleep,  the  kitchens,  the  tables  set  out,  the  fresh  and 
smiling  faces  of  the  house-mothers,  the  men  at  their  ease 
around  the  fire;  and  with  that  conscientious  realism  which 
never  forsakes  them,  they  depict  the  dozing  cat,  the 
yawning  dog,  the  clucking  hen,  the  broom,  the  vegetables, 
the  scattered  pots  and  pans,  the  chicken  ready  for  the  spit. 
Thus  they  represent  life  in  all  its  scenes,  and  in  every 
grade  of  the  social  scale — the  dance,  the  conversazione, 
the  orgie,  the  feast,  the  game ;  and  thus  did  Terbnrg, 
Metzu,  Netscher,  Dow,  Mieris,  Steen,  Brouwer,  and  Van 
Ostade  become  famous. 

After  depicting  the  house,  they  turned  their  attention  to 
the  country.  The  stern  climate  allowed  but  a  brief  time 
for  the  admiration  of  nature,  but  for  this  very  reason  Dutch 
artists  admired  her  all  the  more  ;  they  saluted  the  spring 
with  a  livelier  joy,  and  permitted  that  fugitive  smile  of 
heaven  to  stamp  itself  more  deeply  on  their  fancy.  The 
country  was  not  beautiful,  but  it  was  twice  dear  because  it 
had  been  torn  from  the  sea  and  from  the  foreign  oppressor. 
The  Dutch  artist  painted  it  lovingly;  he  represented  it 
simply,  ingenuously,  with  a  sense  of  intimacy  which  at  that 
time  was  not  to  be  found  in  Italian  or  Belgian  landscape. 
The  flat,  monotonous  country  had,  to  the  Dutch  painter^s 


^ 

^ 


pi 

w 

H 

o 
u 


EOTTEBDAM.  71 

eyes,  a  marvellous  variety.  He  caught  all  the  mutations  of 
the  sky_,  and  knew  the  value  of  the  water,  with  its  reflections, 
its  grace  and  freshness,  and  its  power  of  illuminating  every- 
thing. Having  no  mountains,  he  took  the  dykes  for  back- 
ground; and  with  no  forests,  he  imparted  to  a  simple  group 
of  trees  all  the  mystery  of  a  forest ;  and  he  animated  the 
whole  with  beautiful  animals  and  white  sails. 

The  subjects  of  their  pictures  are  poor  enough — a 
windmill,  a  canal,  a  grey  sky; — but  how  they  make  one 
think  !  A  few  Dutch  painters,  not  content  with  nature  in 
their  own  country,  came  to  Italy  in  search  of  hills,  lumin- 
ous skies,  and  famous  ruins ;  and  another  band  of  select 
artists  is  the  result.  Both,  Swanevelt,  Pynacker,  Breen- 
berg.  Van  Laer,  Asselyn.  But  the  palm  remains  with  the 
landscapists  of  Holland,  with  Wynauts  the  painter  oi 
morning,  with  Van  der  Neer  the  painter  of  night,  with 
Ruysdael  the  painter  of  melancholy,  with  HofFema  the 
illustrator  of  windmills,  cabins,  and  kitchen  gardens,  and 
with  others  who  have  restricted  themselves  to  the  ex- 
pression of  the  enchantment  of  nature  as  she  is  in. 
Holland. 

Simultaneously  with  landscape  art  was  born  another 
kind  of  painting,  especially  peculiar  to  Holland — animal 
painting.  Animals  are  the  riches  of  the  country;  and 
that  magnificent  race  of  cattle  which  has  no  rival  in 
Europe  for  fecundity  and  beauty.  The  Hollanders,  who 
owe  so  much  to  them,  treat  them,  one  may  say,  as  part  of 
the  population;  they  wash  them,  comb  them,  dress  them, 
and  love  them  dearly.  They  are  to  be  seen  everywhere ; 
they  are  reflected  in  all  the  canals,  and  dot  with  points 


X 


72  HOLLAND. 

of  black  and  white  the  immense  fields  that  stretch  on 
every  side^  giving  an  air  of  peace  and  comfort  to  eveiy 
place,  and  exciting  in  the  spectator's  heart  a  sentiment  of 
arcadian  gentleness  and  patriarchal  serenity.  The  Dutch 
artists  studied  these  animals  in  all  their  varieties,  in  all 
their  habits,  and  divined,  as  one  may  say,  their  inner 
life  and  sentiments,  animating  the  tranquil  beauty  of  the 
landscape  with  their  forms.  Rubens,  Luyders,  Paul  de 
Vos,  and  other  Belgian  painters,  had  drawn  animals  with 
admirable  mastery,  but  all  these  are  surpassed  b}  the 
Dutch  artists  Van  der  Velde,  Berghun,  Karel  der  Jardin, 
and  by  the  prince  of  animal  painters,  Paul  Potter,  whose 
famous  "  Bull,''  in  the  gallery  of  the  Hague,  deserves  to 
be  placed  in  the  Vatican  beside  the  "  Transfiguration  "  by 
Rafael. 

In  yet  another  field  are  the  Dutch  painters  great — the 
sea.     The  sea,  their  enemy,  their  power,  and  their  glor}\, 
for  ever  threatening  their  country,  and  entering  in  a  hun- 
dred ways  into  their  lives   and  fortunes ;   that  turbulent 
North  Sea,  full  of  sinister  colors,  with  a  light  of  infinite 
melancholy  upon  it,  beating  for  ever  upon  a  desolate  coast, 
must  subjugate  the  imagination  of  the  artist.     He,  indeed, 
passes  long  hours  on  the  shore,  contemplating  its  tremen- 
dous beauty,  ventures  upon  its  waves  to  study  the  eff'ects 
of  tempests,  buys  a  vessel  and  sails  with  his  wife  and 
family,  observing    and    making   notes,  follows   the  fleet 
into  battle,  and  takes  part  in  the  fight ;  and  in  this  way 
are  made  marine  painters  like  William  Vander  Velde  the 
elder,  and  William  the  younger,  like  Backhuysen,  Dubbels, 
and  Stork. 


ROTTERDAM  '  73 

Another  kind  of  painting  was  to  arise  in  Holland^  as  the 
expression  of  the  character  of  the  people  and  of  republican 
manners.  A  people  which  without  greatness  had  done 
so  many  great  things^  as  Michelet  says^  must  have  its 
heroic  painters^  if  we  call  them  so,  destined  to  illustrate 
men  and  events.  But  this  school  of  painting — precisely 
because  the  people  were  without  greatness^  or^  to  express  it 
better,  without  the  form  of  greatness,  modest,  inclined  to 
consider  all  equal  before  the  country,  because  all  had 
done  their  duty,  abhorring  adulation,  and  the  glorification 
in  one  only  of  the  virtues  and  the  triumph  of  many — this 
school  has  to  illustrate^  not  a  few  men  who  have  excelled, 
and  a  few  extraordinary  facts,  but  all  classes  of  citizen- 
ship gathered  among  the  most  ordinary  and  pacific  of 
burgher  life.  From  this  come  the  great  pictures  which 
represent  five,  ten,  thirty  persons  together,  arquebusiers, 
mayors,  officers,  professors,  magistrates,  administrators, 
seated  or  standing  around  a  table,  feasting  and  convers- 
ing, of  life  size,  most  faithful  likenesses,  grave,  open  faces, 
expressing  that  secure  serenity  of  conscience  by  which 
may  be  divined  rather  than  seen  the  nobleness  of  a  life 
consecrated  to  one^s  country,  the  character  of  that  strong, 
laborious  epoch,  the  masculine  virtues  of  that  excellent 
generation;  all  this  set  off  by  the  fine  costume  of  the 
time,  so  admirably  combining  grace  and  dignity ;  those 
gorgets,  those  doublets,  those  black  mantles,  those 
silken  scarves  and  ribbons,  those  arms  and  banners.  In 
this  field  stand  pre-eminent  Van  der  Helst^  Hals^  Govaert, 
riink,  and  Bol. 

Descending  from  the  consideration  of  the  various  kinds 


74  HOLLAND. 

of  painting,  to  the  special  manner  by  means  of  which  the 
artist  excelled  in  treatment,  one  leads  all  the  rest  as  the 
distinctive  feature  of  Dutch  painting — the  light. 

The  light  in  Holland,  by  reason  of  the  particular  con- 
ditions of  its  manifestation,  could  not  fail  to  give  rise  to 
a  special  manner  of  painting.  A  pale  light,  waving  with 
marvellous  mobility  through  an  atmosphere  impregnated 
with  vapor,  a  nebulous  veil  continually  and  abruptly 
torn,  a  perpetual  struggle  between  light  and  shadow,  such 
was  the  spectacle  which  attracted  the  eye  of  the  artist. 
He  began  to  observe  and  to  reproduce  all  this  agitation  of 
the  heavens,  this  struggle  which  animates  with  varied  and 
fantastic  life  the  solitude  of  nature  in  Holland;  and  in 
representing  it,  the  struggle  passed  into  his  soul,  and 
instead  of  representing,  he  created.  Then  he  caused  the 
two  elements  to  contend  under  his  hand ;  he  accumulated 
darkness  that  he  might  split  and  seam  it  with  all  manner 
of  luminous  effects  and  sudden  gleams  of  light ;  sunbeams 
darted  through  the  rifts,  sunset  reflections  and  the  yellow 
rays  of  lamp-light  were  blended  with  delicate  manipula- 
tion into  mysterious  shadows,  and  their  dim  depths  were 
peopled  with  half-seen  forms;  and  thus  he  created  all 
sorts  of  contrasts,  enigmas,  play  and  effect  of  strange  and 
unexpected  chiaroscuro.  In  this  field,  among  many,  stand 
conspicuous  Gerard  Don,  the  author  of  the  famous  four- 
candle  picture,  and  the  great  magician  and  sovereign 
illuminator,  Rembrandt. 

Another  marked  feature  of  Dutch  painting  was  to  be 
color.  Besides  the  generally  accepted  reasons  that  in  a 
country  where  there  are  no  mountainous  horizons,    no 


EOTTEBBAM.  75 

varied  prospects,  no  great  covp  d'oeilj  no  forms^  in  shorty 
that  lend  then: selves  to  design,  the  artist's  eye  must 
inevitably  be  attracted  by  color,  and  that  this  mnst  be 
peculiarly  the  case  in  Holland,  where  the  uncertain  light, 
the  fog- veiled  atmosphere,  confuse  and  blend  the  outlines 
of  all  objects,  so  that  the  eye,  unable  to  fix  itself  upon 
the  form,  flies  to  color  as  the  principal  attribute  that 
nature  presents  to  it ;  besides  these  reasons,  there  is  the 
fact  that  in  a  country  so  flat,  so  uniform,  and  so  grey  as 
Holland,  there  is  the  same  need  of  color  as  in  southern 
lands  there  is  need  of  shade.  The  Dutch  artists  did  but 
follow  the  imperious  taste  of  their  countrymen,  who 
painted  their  houses  in  vivid  colors,  as  well  as  their  ships, 
and  in  some  places  the  trunks  of  their  trees  and  the 
palings  and  fences  of  their  fields  and  gardens;  whose 
dress  was  of  the  gayest,  richest  hues;  who  loved  tulips  and 
hyacinths  even  to  madness.  And  thus  the  Dutch  painters 
were  potent  colorists,  and  Rembrandt  was  their  chief. 

Realism,  natural  to  the  calmness  and  slowness  of  the 
Dutch  character,  was  to  give  to  their  art  yet  another 
distinctive  feature,  finish,  which  was  carried  to  the  very 
extreme  of  possibility.  It  is  truly  said  that  the  leading 
quality  of  the  people  may  be  found  in  their  pictures,  viz. 
patience.  Everything  is  represented  with  the  minuteness 
of  a  daguerreotype ;  every  vein  in  the  wood  of  a  piece  oi 
furniture,  every  fibre  in  a  leaf,  the  threads  of  cloth,  the 
stitches  in  a  patch,  every  hair  upon  an  animal's  coat, 
every  wrinkle  in  a  man's  face;  everything  finished  with 
microscopic  precision,  as  if  done  with  a  fairy  pencil,  or 
at   the   expense   of  the  painter's   eyes  and   reason.      Ii 


76  HOLLAND. 

reality  a  defect  rather  than  an  excellence^,  since  the  office 
of  painting  is  to  represent  not  what  is,  but  what  the  eye 
seeS;  and  the  eye  does  not  see  everything ;  but  a  defect 
carried  to  such  a  pitch  of  perfection  that  one  admires, 
and  does  not  find  fault.  In  this  respect  the  most  famous 
prodigies  of  patience  were  Don,  Mieris,  Potter,  Van  der 
Heist,  and  more  or  less,  all  the  Dutch  painters. 

But  realism,  which  gives  to  Dutch  art  so  original  a 
stamp,  and  such  admirable  qualities,  is  yet  the  root  of  its 
most  serious  defects.  The  artists,  desirous  only  of  repre- 
senting material  truths,  gave  to  their  figures  no  expression 
save  that  of  their  physical  sentiments.  Grief,  love,  en- 
thusiasm, and  the  thousand  delicate  shades  of  feeling 
that  have  no  name,  or  take  a  different  one  with  the  diffe- 
rent causes  that  give  rise  to  them,  they  express  rarely,  or 
not  at  all.  For  them  the  heart  does  not  beat,  the  eye 
does  not  weep,  the  lips  do  not  quiver.  One  whole  side 
of  the  human  soul,  the  noblest  and  highest,  is  wanting  in 
their  pictures.  More,  in  their  faithful  reproduction  ol 
everything,  even  the  ugly,  and  especially  the  ugly,  they 
end  by  exaggerating  even  that,  making  defects  into  defor- 
mities, and  portraits  into  caricatures ;  they  calumniate 
the  national  type;  they  give  a  burlesque  and  graceless 
aspect  to  the  human  countenance.  In  order  to  have  the 
proper  background  for  such  figures,  they  are  constrained 
to  choose  trivial  subjects;  hence  the  great  number  of 
pictures  representing  beer-shops,  and  drinkers  with  gro- 
tesque, stupid  faces,  in  absurd  attitudes,  ugly  women, 
and  ridiculous  old  men ;  scenes  in  which  one  can  almost 
bear  the  brutal  laughter  and  the  obscene  words.     Looking 


ROTTEBBAM.  11 

at  these  pictures_,  one  would  naturally  couclude  that 
Holland  was  inhabited  by  the  ugliest  and  most  ill-man» 
nered  people  on  the  earth.  We  will  not  speak  of  greater 
and  worse  license.  Steen,  Potter^  and  Brouwer_,  the  great 
Rembrandt  himself,  have  all  painted  incidents  that  are 
scarcely  to  be  mentioned  to  civilised  ears_,  and  certainly 
should  not  be  .looked  at.  But  even  setting  aside  these 
excesses^  in  the  picture  galleries  of  Holland  there  is  to  be 
found  nothing  that  elevates  the  mind,  or  moves  it  to  high 
and  gentle  tliDughts.  You  admire,  you  enjoy,  you  laugh, 
you  stand  pensive  for  a  moment  before  some  canvas ;  but 
coming  out,  you  feel  that  something  is  lacking  to  your 
pleasure,  you  experience  a  desire  to  look  upon  a  handsome 
countenance,  to  read  inspired  verses,  and  sometimes  you 
catch  yourself  murmuring,  half  unconsciously: — "Oh 
Uafael ! '' 

Finally,  there  are  still  two  important  excellences  to  be 
recorded  of  this  school  of  painting — its  variety,  and  its 
importance  as  the  expression,  the  mirror,  so  to  speak,  of 
the  country.  If  we  except  Rembrandt  with  his  group  of 
followers  and  imitators,  almost  all  the  other  artists  differ 
very  much  from  one  another;  no  other  school  presents  so 
great  a  number  of  original  masters.  The  realism  of  the 
Dutch  painters  is  born  of  their  common  love  of  nature ; 
but  each  one  has  shown  in  his  work  a  kind  of  love  pecu- 
liarly his  own;  each  one  has  rendered  a  different  impres- 
sion which  he  has  received  from  nature;  and  all,  starting 
from  the  same  point,  which  was  the  worship  of  material 
truth,  have  arrived  at  separate  and  distinct  goals.  Their 
realism,  then,   inciting  them  to  disdain  nothing  as  food 


78  HOLLAND. 

for  tlie  pencil^  has  so  acted  that  Dutch  art  succeeds  in 
representing  Holland  more  completely  than  has  ever  been 
accomplished  by  any  other  school  in  any  other  country. 
It  has  been  truly  said  that  should  every  other  visible 
witness  of  the  existence  of  Holland  in  the  seventeenth 
century — her  period  of  greatness— vanish  from  the  earth, 
and  the  pictures  remain,  in  them  would  be  found  pre- 
served entire  the  city,  the  country,  the  ports,  the  ships, 
the  markets,  the  shops,  the  costumes,  the  arms,  the  linen, 
the  stuffs,  the  merchandise,  the  kitchen  utensils,  the  food, 
the  pleasures,  the  habits,  the  religious  belief  and  super- 
stitions, the  qualities,  and  effects  of  the  people;  and  all 
this,  which  is  great  praise  for  literature,  is  no  less  praise 
for  her  sister  art. 

Bat  there  is  one  great  hiatus  in  Dutch  art,  the  reason 
for  which  can  scarcely  be  found  in  the  pacific  and  modest 
disposition  of  the  people.  This  art,  so  profoundly  national 
in  all  other  respects,  has,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
naval  battles,  completely  neglected  all  the  great  events  of 
the  war  of  independence,  among  which  the  sieges  of  Ley- 
den  and  of  Harlem  alone  would  have  been  enough  to  have 
inspired  a  whole  legion  of  painters.  A  war  of  almost  a  cen- 
tury in  duration,  full  of  strange  and  terrible  vicissitudes,  has 
not  been  recorded  in  one  single  memorable  painting.  Art, 
so  varied  and  so  conscientious  in  its  records  of  the  countiy 
and  its  people,  has  represented  no  scene  of  that  great  tra- 
gedy, as  William  the  Silent  prophetically  named  it,  which 
cost  the  Dutch  people,  for  so  long  a  time,  so  many  different 
emotions  of  terror,  of  pain,  of  rage,  of  joy,  and  of  pride  1 

The  splendor  of  art  in  Holland  is  dimmed  by  that  of 


BOTTEBDAM.  79 

political  greatness.  Almost  all  the  great  painters  ^vere 
bom  in  the  first  thirty  years  o£  the  seventeenth  century, 
or  in  the  last  part  of  the  sixteenth ;  all  were  dead  after 
the  first  ten  years  of  the  eighteenth^  and  after  them  there 
were  no  more;  Holland  had  exhausted  her  fecundity. 
Already  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  the 
national  sentiment  had  grown  weaker,  taste  had  corrupted, 
the  inspiration  of  the  painters  had  declined  with  the  moral 
energies  of  the  nation.  In  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
artists,  as  if  they  were  tired  of  nature,  went  back  to  my- 
thology, to  classicism,  to  conventionalities ;  the  imagina- 
tion grew  cold,  style  was  impoverished,  every  spark  of  the 
antique  genius  was  extinct.  Dutch  art  still  showed  to  the 
world  the  wonderful  flowers  of  Van  Huysum,  the  last 
great  lover  of  nature,  and  then  folded  her  tired  hands, 
and  let  the  flowers  fall  upon  his  tomb. 

The  actual  gallery  of  pictures  of  Rotterdam  contains 
but  a  small  number,  among  which  there  are  very  few  by 
the  first  artists,  and  none  of  the  great  chef  d^ceuvres  of 
Dutch  painting.  Three  hundred  pictures  and  thirteen 
hundred  drawings  were  destroyed  in  a  fire  in  1864 ;  and 
of  what  remained  the  greater  part  come  from  one  Jacob 
Otto  Boymans,  who  left  them  in  his  will  to  the  city.  In 
this  gallery,  therefore,  one  may  enter  to  make  acquaint- 
ance with  some  particular  artist,  rather  than  to  admire  the 
Dutch  school. 

In  one  of  the  first  rooms  may  be  seen  a  few  sketches  of 
naval  battles,  signed  with  the  name  of  Willem  Van  de 
Velde,  considered  as  the  greatest  marine  painter  of  his 
time,    son   of  Willem,   called   the  elder,    also    a   marine 


80  HOLLAND. 

painter.  Eatlier  and  son  "had  tlie  good  fortune  to  live  in 
tlie  time  of  the  great  maritime  wars  between  Holland, 
England,  and  France,  and  saw  the  battles  with  their  own 
eyes.  The  States  of  Holland  placed  a  small  frigate  at  the 
disposition  of  the  elder  Van  de  Velde ;  the  son  accom- 
panied his  father,  and  both  made  their  sketches  in  the 
midst  of  the  cannon-smoke,  sometimes  pushing  their 
vessel  so  near  as  to  cause  the  admiral  to  order  their  with- 
drawal. Van  de  Velde  the  younger  greatly  surpassed  his 
father,  and  painted,  in  general,  small  pictures — a  grey 
sky,  a  calm  sea,  and  a  sail ;  but  so  done,  that  when  fixing 
your  eyes  upon  them,  you  seem  to  smell  the  briny  breezes 
of  the  ocean,  and  the  frame  appears  changed  into  an  open 
window.  This  Van  de  Velde  belonged  to  that  group  of 
Dutch  painters  who  loved  the  water  with  a  kind  of  fury,  and 
painted,  it  may  be  said,  npon  it.  Of  these  also  was  Back- 
huysen,  a  marine  painter  of  great  repute  in  his  own  time, 
and  whom  Peter  the  Great,  when  in  Amsterdam,  chose  for 
his  master.  Backhuysen  relates  of  himself,  that  he  went 
out  in  a  small  boat  in  the  midst  of  a  tempest  to  observe 
the  movement  of  the  waves,  and  he  and  his  boatmen  ran 
such  fearful  risks  that  the  latter,  more  solicitous  for  their 
own  lives  than  for  his  picture,  took  him  back  to  land  in 
spite  of  his  orders  to  the  contrary.  John  Griflfier  did 
more.  He  bought  a  small  vessel  at  London,  which  he 
furnished  like  a  house,  and  installing  his  wife  and  family 
on  board,  sailed  about  in  search  of  views.  A  tem- 
pest having  wrecked  his  vessel  on  a  sand-bank  and 
destroyed  everything  he  possessed,  he,  saved  by  a  miracle 
with  his  family,  went   to  live  at  Rotterdam ;    but  soon 


JJ   ■   T-JCMin.-i 


EOTTEEDAM,  81 

tiriDg  of  life  on  lancl^  Griffier  bought  another  -wretched 
old  boatj  recommenced  his  voyages,  and  a  second  time 
risked  his  life  near  Dordrecht  j  but  he  still  persisted  in 
sailing  about  as  before. 

In  marine  painting  the  gallery  of  Rotterdam  has  little 
to  show;  but  landscape  is  worthily  represented  by  two 
pictures  by  Ruysdael^  the  greatest  of  the  Dutch  painters  ol 
rural  scenes.  These  two  pictures  represent  his  favourite 
subjects;  namely,  woody  and  solitary  places,  which  insjnre, 
like  all  his  pictures,  a  vague  sentiment  of  melancholy. 
The  great  power  of  this  artist,  who  stands  alone  among 
his  brother  painters  for  delicacy  of  mind  and  a  singular 
superiority  of  education,  lies  in  his  sentiment.  It  has 
been  justly  said  that  he  makes  use  of  landscape  to  express 
his  own  bitterness  and  weariness,  his  own  dreams,  and  that 
he  contemplates  his  country  with  a  sort  of  sadness,  and 
creates  groves  of  trees  in  which  to  hide  it.  The  veiled 
light  of  Holland  is  the  image  of  his  soul;  no  one  feels 
more  exquisitely  its  melancholy  sweetness ;  no  one  repre- 
sents like  him,  with  a  ray  of  languid  light,  the  sad  smile  of 
some  afflicted  creature.  It  follows  as  a  matter  of  course 
that  so  exceptional  a  nature  was  not  appreciated  by  his 
countrymen  till  long  after  his  death. 

Near  one  of  RuysdaePs  pictures  is  a  group  of  flowers 
by  a  woman  painter,  Rachel  Ruysch,  the  -wife  of  a  por- 
trait painter  of  note,  born  in  the  second  half  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  dying,  pencil  in  hand,  at  eighty  years 
of  age,  after  having  proved  to  her  husband  and  the  world 
that  a  woman  may  passionately  cultivate  the  fine  arts  and 
still  find  time  to  bear  and  bring  up  ten  children. 


82  HOLLAND. 

And  since  I  have  mentioned  the  wife  of  one  artist,,  it  may 
be  here  noted,  en  passant,  that  a  pleasant  book  might  be 
written  upon  the  wives  of  the  Dutch  painters,  as  well  for 
the  variety  of  their  adventures  as  for  the  important  part 
which  they  take  in  tlie  history  of  art.  INIany  of  them  we 
know  by  sight  from  their  portraits,  made  in  company  with 
their  husbands,  their  children,  their  cats,  and  their  hens  ; 
and  biographers  speak  of  them,  denying  or  confirming 
reports  concerning  their  conduct.  Some  even  venture  to 
hint  that  the  greater  part  of  these  ladies  did  great  wrongs 
to  painting.  To  me  it  appears  that  there  were  faults  on 
both  sides.  As  for  Rembrandt,  we  know  that  the  happiest 
period  of  his  life  was  that  between  his  first  marriage  and 
the  death  of  his  wife,  the  daughter  of  a  burgomaster  of 
Leuwarde;  posterity,  therefore,  owes  this  lady  a  debt  of 
gratitude.  We  know,  also,  that  Van  der  Heist  married, 
when  already  advanced  in  life,  a  lovely  young  girl  against 
whom  there  is  nothing  to  be  said ;  and  posterity  has  to 
thank  her  as  well,  for  having  cheered  the  declining  years 
of  that  great  artist.  It  is  true  that  all  the  wives  of  the 
Dutch  painters  cannot  be  spoken  of  in  the  same  terms. 
The  first  of  the  two  wives  of  Steen,  for  example,  was  a 
frivolous  woman  who  left  the  beershop  which  she  had  in- 
herited from  her  father  to  fall  into  ruin ;  and  the  second, 
if  all  is  true  that  is  said  of  her,  was  unfaithful  to  him.  The 
second  wife  of  Heemskerk  was  a  swindler,  and  her  husband 
was  obliged  to  go  about  making  excuses  for  her  misdeeds. 
The  wife  of  Hondekocter  was  an  odd,  ill-tempered  woman, 
who  obliged  him  to  pass  his  evenings  at  a  tavern  in  order 
to  be  rid  of  her.     The  wife  of  Berghem  was  an  insatiable 


BOTTEBDAM.  83 

miser,  who  would  wake  him  abruptly  when  he  fell  asleep 
over  his  brushes,  and  make  him  work  to  gain  money, 
while  the  poor  man  was  constrained  to  resort  to  subter- 
fuge in  order  to  retain  a  little  of  his  own  earnings,  to  buy 
himself  an  engraving  or  two.  On  the  other  hand  we 
should  never  have  done  were  we  to  attempt  to  exhaust  the 
misdeeds  of  the  gentlemen.  The  painter  Griffier  forced 
his  wife  to  go  about  the  world  in  a  boat ;  the  painter 
Veenir  got  leave  of  his  spouse  to  go  and  spend  four 
months  in  Rome,  and  stayed  four  years ;  Karel  du  Jardin 
married  a  rich  old  woman  to  pay  his  debts,  and  wdien  they 
were  all  paid,  left  her ;  Molyn  had  his  wife  murdered  that 
he  might  marry  a  Genoese.  We  leave  in  doubt  whether 
poor  Paul  Potter  was  betrayed  or  no  by  the  wife  he  loved 
so  madly ;  and  whether  the  great  flower-painter,  Huysum, 
who  was  devoured  by  jealousy  in  the  midst  of  riches  and 
honors,  for  a  wife  no  longer  young  or  handsome,  had  any 
real  cause  for  jealousy,  or  was  merely  driven  wild  with 
suspicion  by  the  man(Buvres  of  his  envious  rivals.  As  an 
appropriate  finish,  let  us  honourably  record  the  three 
wives  of  Eglon  van  der  Neer,  who  crowned  him  with 
twenty-five  children,  which  did  not,  however,  prevent 
him  from  painting  a  great  number  of  pictures  of  every 
kind,  from  making  numerous  journeys,  and  from  culti- 
vating many  tulips. 

There  are  in  the  gallery  of  Rotterdam  a  few  small  pic- 
tures by  Albert  Cuyp,  who  ''gave  a  part  of  himself ^^  to 
Dutch  art,  and  who  in  the  course  of  a  very  long  life 
painted  portraits,  landscapes,  animals,  flowers,  -winter 
scenes,  moonlight,  marine    subjects,  figures,  and  left  on 


84  HOLLAND, 

them  all  t"he  stamp  of  original  genius;  nevertTieless,  lilve 
all  the  Dutch  painters  of  his  day,  he  was  so  unfortunate^, 
that  up  to  1750^  or  more  than  fifty  years  after  his 
deathj  his  best  pictures  sold  for  one  hundred  francs, 
pictures  which  are  now  valued,  in  England,  not  in  Hol- 
land, at  one  hundred  thousand.  Almost  all  his  works 
are  now  in  England. 

I  should  not  say  a  word  about  Heemskerk's  ^^  Christ  at 
tlie  Sepulchre,''^  if  it  were  not  that  it  gives  occasion  to 
make  known  the  artist,  who  was  one  of  the  most  singular 
beings  that  ever  walked  the  earth.   Yan  Veen,  for  that  was 
his  name,  was  born  in  the  village  of  Heemskerk,  at  the 
end  of  the  fiitcenth  century,  and  flourished  during  the 
period  of  Italian  imitation.     He  was  the  son  of  a  peasant, 
and  although  he  showed  some  disposition  towards  paint- 
ing, seemed  destined  to  remain  a  peasant.     He  became 
an  artist,  like  many  others,  by  an  accident.     His  father 
was  a  man  of  violent  temper,  and  the  son  was  terribly  in 
fear  of  him.     One  day  poor  Van  Veen  threw  down  the 
jug  of  milk,  his  father  rushed  at  him,  and  he  took  to 
flight  and  passed  the  night  in  hiding  out  of  doors.     In 
the  morning   his    mother   found   him,    agreed  with  him 
that   it  would    not   be    prudcjnt    to   brave    the   paternal 
wrath,  gave  him   a   small    store    of   linen    and    a   little 
money,  and  sent  him  off  to  seek  his  fortune.     The  boy 
went  to  Harlem,  obtained    entrance   into   the  school  of 
a  painter  of  note,  studied,  succeeded,  and  went  to  Home 
to  perfect  himself.      He  did  not  become  a  great  artist, 
for  imitation  of  Italian  art  was  injurious  to  him.      He 
treated  the  nude  stiffly  and  had  a  mannered  style;  but 


BOTTEEDAM.  85 

he  was  a  productive  painter  and  was  well  paid,  and  never 
had  reason  to  regret  his  peasant  life. 

But  here  comes  in  his  peculiarity  :  he  was,  according  to 
his  biographers,  incredibly,  morbidly,  madly  timid ;  inso- 
much, that  when  he  knew  that  the  arquebusiers  were 
going  to  pass  by,  he  fled  to  the  roofs  and  the  steeples,  and 
shook  with  terror  even  there  at  the  distant  gleam  of 
arms.  And  if  anyone  doubt  this,  there  is  a  fact  re- 
corded of  him  which  cannot  be  questioned :  that  finding 
himself  in  the  city  of  Harlem  when  the  Spaniards  laid 
siege  to  it,  the  magistrates,  knowing  his  weakness,  gave 
him  leave  to  quit  the  city  before  the  fight  began,  per- 
haps because  they  foresaw  that  if  he  did  not  do  that, 
he  would  die  of  fright;  and  he  fled  to  Amsterdam, 
leaving  his  fellow-citizens  at  their  greatest  need. 

Other  Dutch  artists — since  I  am  speaking  of  the  men 
and  not  of  their  works — like  Ileemskerk,  owed  to  an 
accident  their  success  as  painters.  Everdingen,  a  land- 
scape painter  of  the  first  rank,  ovved  it  to  a  tempest 
which  threw  his  ship  on  the  coast  of  Norway,  where  he 
remained  and,  under  the  inspiration  of  the  grand  natural 
features  there,  created  an  original  type  of  landscape. 

Cornelius  Vroom  also  owed  his  fortune  to  a  shipwreck. 
He  had  sailed  for  Spain  with  some  religious  pictures;  his 
ship  was  wrecked  off  the  Portuguese  coast;  the  poor  artist 
was  saved  with  others  on  an  uninhabited  island.  They 
remained  two  days  without  food,  and  gave  themselves  up 
for  lost,  when  they  were  succoured  by  some  monks  of  a 
convent  on  the  coast,  to  whom  the  sea  had  carried,  with 
the  carcass  of  the  ship,  the  pictures  that  were  in  it,  and 


86  HOLLAND, 

the  monks  had  found  them  admirable ;  and  so  Cornelius 
was  saved^  sheltered^  and  encouraged  to  paint ;  and  the 
profound  emotions  experienced  in  his  shipwreck  gave  a 
new  and  powerful  impulse  to  his  genius^  and  made  him  a 
true  artist. 

And  another^  Hans  Fredeman,  the  famous  painter  of 
deceptions — he  who  painted  in  so  masterly  a  manner  the 
doors  of  a  hall  in  imitation  of  columns,  that  Charles  V. 
turned  back  after  entering,  thinking  that  the  wall  had 
closed  behind  him  by  enchantment;  the  same  Hans 
Fredeman  who  painted  palings  that  turned  aside  the 
passenger,  and  doors  which  people  tried  to  023en — OAved 
his  fortune  to  a  treatise  on  architecture  by  Vitruvius, 
which  he  received  by  chance  from  a  carpenter. 

There  is  a  fine  little  picture  by  Steen,  representing  a 
doctor  pretending  to  perform  the  operation  for  the  stone 
upon  a  man  wdio  imagines  himself  ill.  An  old  woman 
receives  the  stone  iu  a  basin,  the  patient  yells  at  the  top 
of  his  lungs,  and  some  laughing  spectators  look  in  at  a 
window. 

When  we  say  that  this  picture  makes  you  burst  into  a 
shout  of  laughter,  we  have  said  all  that  need  be  said. 
This  Steen  is,  after  Rembrandt,  the  most  original  of  the 
Dutch  figure-painters;  he  is  one  of  the  few  artists  who, 
once  known,  whether  we  class  him  as  great,  or  place 
him  only  in  the  second  rank,  remains  a  fixture  in  our 
minds  for  ever.  After  having  seen  his  pictures,  you  can- 
not meet  a  druidicn  man,  a  buffoon,  a  cripple,  a  dwarf,  a 
deformed  visage,  a  ridiculous  grimace,  a  grotesque  atti. 
tude,  without  instantly  remembering  one  of  his  figures. 


BOTTEBDAM.  87 

All  the  gradations^  all  the  stupidity  of  drunkenness^  all 
the  coarse  license  of  an  orgie^  all  the  frenzy  of  the  basest 
pleasures^  the  cynicism  of  the  lowest  vice^  the  buffoonery 
of  the  maddest  ruffianism,  all  the  most  bestial  emotions, 
all  the  most  ignoble  aspects  of  tavern  life,,  he  has 
i:ortrayed  with  the  insolence  and  brutality  of  a  man 
without  scruples^  and  with  a  comic  force  and  fire,  a 
very  madness  of  inspiration,  which  cannot  be  expressed 
in  words. 

Many  volumes  have  been  written  upon  him,  and  many 
diverse  judgments  pronounced.  His  warmest  admirers 
have  attributed  to  him  a  moral  intention — the  purpose  of 
making  low  vices  hateful^  by  painting  them  in  all  their 
naked  hideousness,  as  the  Spartans  showed  the  drunken 
Helots  to  their  sons.  Others  see  nothing  in  his  pictures 
but  the  spontaneous  and  instinctive  expression  of  the 
tastes  and  disposition  of  the  artist,  represented  with  coarse 
vulgarity.  However  that  may  be^  it  is  beyond  a  doubt 
that  Steen^s  pictures  are  to  be  considered  as  satires  upon 
vice ;  and  in  this  he  is  superior  to  almost  all  the  other  Dutch 
painters,  who  restricted  themselves  to  a  simple  naturalism. 
Hence  he  is  called  the  Dutch  Hogarth,  the  jovial  phi- 
losopher, the  profoundest  student  of  the  manners  of 
his  countrymen;  and  among  his  admirers  there  is  one 
who  said  that  if  Steen  had  been  born  in  Rome  instead  of 
Leyden,  and  had  had  Michael  Angelo  instead  of  Van 
Goyen  for  a  master,  he  would  have  been  one  of  the 
greatest  artists  in  the  world ;  and  there  is  another  who 
has  discovered  I  know  not  what  analogy  between  him  and 
Eafael.     Less  general  is  the  admiration  for  the  technical 


88  HOLLAND, 

qualities  of  his  pictures,  in  wliicli  the  delicacy  and  vigor 
of  other  artists,  such  as  Ostade,  Mieris,  and  Dow,  are  not 
to  be  found.  But  considering  even  the  satirical  character 
of  his  work,  it  may  he  said  that  Steen  often  overshot  his 
mark,  if  mark  he  had.  His  hurlesque  fury  often  over- 
powered his  sentiment  of  reality ;  his  figures,  instead  of 
being  only  ridiculous,  became  monstrous,  hardly  human, 
resembling  rather  heasts  than  men ;  and  he  multiplied 
such  figures  in  a  way  to  excite  nausea  rather  than  laugh- 
ter, and  a  feeling  of  anger  that  human  nature  should  be 
so  outraged. 

There  has  always  heen  much  question  as  to  his  manner 
of  life.  Volumes  have  heen  written  to  prove  that  he  was  a 
drunkard,  and  other  volumes  to  prove  the  contrary ;  and, 
as  usual,  there  are  exaggerations  on  both  sides.  He  kept  a 
beershop  at  Delft,  and  did  badly ;  he  then  set  up  a  tavern, 
and  came  to  grief.  It  is  said  that  he  was  himself  the  most 
assiduous  customer  of  the  latter,  that  he  drank  up  all  the 
wine,  and,  when  the  cellar  was  empty,  took  down  the  sign, 
closed  the  doors,  set  himself  to  painting  in  hot  haste,  then 
sold  the  pictures,  bought  more  wine,  and  began  again  as 
before.  It  is  also  said  that  he  paid  directly  with  the  pic- 
tures, and  that  consequently  most  of  his  work  was  in  the 
possession  of  the  wine  merchants.  It  is  difficult,  truly, 
to  explain  how,  being  always  in  difficulties,  he  could  have 
painted  so  large  a  number  of  admirable  pictures ;  but  it 
is  not  less  difficult  to  understand  why  he  loved  such  sub- 
jects if  he  were  leading  a  sober  and  orderly  life.  Certain 
it  is,  that,  especially  in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  he  com- 
mitted all  sorts  of  extravagances.     He  studied  at  first  ii! 


BOTTEBDAM.  89 

tlie  school  of  Van  Goyen,  a  landscape-painter  of  note; 
but  genius  worked  in  him  far  more  than  study ;  he  di^dned 
the  rules  of  his  art;  and  if  he  sometimes  painted  too 
blackj  as  one  of  his  critics  declares^  the  fault  probably 
lav  in  some  bottle  too  much  at  dinner. 

Steen  is  not  the  only  Dutch  artist  who  is  accused  of 
drunkenness.  There  was  a  time  when  almost  all  of  them 
passed  a  good  part  of  the  day  at  the  tavern^  drinking,  and 
coming  to  blows^  and  issuing  forth  all  bruised  and  bloody. 
In  a  poem  upon  the  works  of  Karel  van  Mander^  the  first 
who  wrote  the  history  of  painting  in  the  Low  Countries^ 
there  is  a  passage  against  the  vice  of  drunkenness  and  the 
habit  of  fighting,  which  says,  among  other  things :  ^^Be 
sober,  and  act  so  that  the  ill-omened  proverb  of  ^de- 
bauched as  a  painter-*  shall  be  changed  into  ^temperate  as 
an  artist/  "  Mieris,  to  cite  only  the  most  famous^  was  a 
great  drinker ;  Van  Goyen  a  sot ;  Francis  Halz,  Brouwer's 
master,  a  wine  sponge  ;  Brouwer  an  incorrigible  haunter 
of  taverns ;  William  Cornells  and  Hondekoeter  both  de- 
voted to  the  bottle.  Of  the  minor  lights,  some  died  of 
drink  ;  and  in  their  deaths  the  Dutch  painters  saw  strange 
vicissitudes.  The  great  Rembrandt  died  in  straitened 
circumstances,  almost  unknown  to  all;  Hoffema  died  at 
Amsterdam  in  the  poor  quarter ;  Steen  died  in  misery; 
Brouwer  in  the  hospital ;  Andrea  Both  and  Henry  Vers- 
churing  were  drowned  ;  Adrian  Bloemaert  was  killed  in  a 
duel ;  Karel  Fabritius  was  blown  up  in  a  powder-mill ; 
John  Scotel  died,  brush  in  hand,  of  apoplexy;  Paul 
Potter  died  of  consumption ;  Luke  of  Leyden  was  poi- 
soned.    So  what  between  sudden  death,  debauchery,  and 


90  HOLLAND. 

jealousy,  many  o£  the  Dutch  painters  cannot  be  said  to 
have  had  a  very  happy  lot. 

There  is  in  the  gallery  at  Rotterdam  a  fine  head 
by  Rembrandt  j  a  brigand  scene  by  Wonvermaus,  the 
great  horse  and  battle  painter;  a  landscape  by  Van 
Goyen,  the  painter  of  dead  sands  and  leaden  skies ;  a  sea- 
piece  by  Backhuysen^  the  painter  of  storms  ;  a  Berghem, 
the  painter  of  smiling  landscapes;  an  Everdingen,  the 
painter  of  cascades  and  forests  ;  and  other  works^  Flemish 
and  Italian. 

Coming  out  of  the  museum  I  met  a  company  of  sol- 
diers, the  first  Dutch  soldiers  I  had  seen,  dressed  in  dark 
uniforms,  without  visible  ornament,  blonde  from  first  to 
last,  with  long  fair  hair,  and  an  air  of  good  humour  that 
made  their  arms  seem   incongruous.     At  Rotterdam,  a 
.city  of  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants,  there 
are  three  hundred  soldiers  in  garrison  !    And  Rotterdam 
has,  among  the  cities  of  Holland,  the  reputation  of  being 
the  most  turbulent  and  dangerous !    Not  long  ago,  indeed^ 
there  was  a  popular  demonstration  against  the  city  govern- 
ment, in  the  course  of  which  a  few  windows  were  broken ; 
but  in  a  country  that  goes  by  clock-work,  as  this  does, 
it  seemed  a  great  affair,  the  State  was  much  excited,  and 
cavalry  came  from  the  Hague.     It  is  not  to  be  concluded, 
however,  that  the  people  are  all  sugar ;  on  the  coritrary, 
the  inhabitants    of   Rotterdam    themselves  acknowledge 
that  the  lower   orders   (what   Carducci    calls   the   Santa 
Caraglia)  are,  as  in  other  places,  of  the  worst  possible  re- 
putation ;  and  the  scarcity  of    the  garrison   is  rather  a 
provocation  to  license  than  a  proof  of  public  morals. 


EOTTEBBAM.  91 

Rotterdam  is  notj  as  I  have  said^  a  literary  or  artistic 
city ;  indeed,  it  is  one  of  the  few  Dutch  cities  that  have 
never  produced  any  great  painter;  a  sterility  which  it 
shares  with  the  interior  of  Zealand.  But  Erasmus  is  not 
its  sole  literary  glory.  In  a  small  park  which  lies  to  the 
right  of  the  city  on  the  shore  of  the  Meuse,  stands  a 
marble  statue  of  the  poet  ToUens^  born  towards  the  end  of 
the  last  century,  and  who  died  not  long  since.  This  Tol- 
lens,  rather  audaciously  called  by  some  the  Dutch  Beran- 
ger,  was  a  popular  poet  of  the  country ;  one  of  those  poets, 
simple,  moral,  full  of  good  sense,  with  rather  more  good 
sense  than  inspiration,  treating  poetry  very  much  as  a 
matter  of  business,  never  writing  a  word  that  could  give 
umbrage  to  their  wise  relations  and  friends,  singing 
their  good  God  and  their  good  king,  expressing  the 
character  of  their  tranquil,  practical,  fellow-citizens,  and 
aiming  to  say  just  things  rather  than  great  things ;  and, 
above  all,  cultivating  poetry  at  an  advanced  age,  like 
prudent  fathers  of  families,  without  abstracting  a  moment 
from  the  duties  of  their  profession.  Like  many  other 
Dutch  poets  (but  of  another  nature  and  another  genius 
than  his),  as,  for  example,  Vandel,  who  was  a  hatter, 
Ilooft,  governor  of  Muyden,  Van  Leunep,  procurator- 
fiscal,  Gravenswaert,  Councillor  of  State,  and  others, 
Tollens  was  an  apothecary  at  Rotterdam,  and  passed  his 
days  in  his  drug-shop.  He  was  a  loving  father  to  his 
children,  as  he  has  demonstrated  in  numerous  verses 
celebrating  the  cutting  of  their  first,  second,  and  third 
teeth.  He  wrote  "  Canzoni,-'^  and  odes  upon  familiar  and 
patriotic  subjects,,    among    them   the    national  hymn  of 


92  HOLLAND. 

Holland — a  very  mediocre  afFair^  whicli  is,  however,  sung 
about  the  streets  and  in  the  schools — and  a  little  poem, 
which  is,  perhaps,  his  best,  upon  the  expedition  attempted 
by  the  Dutch,  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
to  the  Polar  seas.  The  people  have  all  his  verses  by  heart, 
and  consider  him  their  most  faithful  friend  and  inter- 
preter. But  for  all  that,  Tolleus  is  not  considered,  even 
in  Holland,  a  poet  of  the  first  order;  and  some  even 
refuse  him  the  sacred  laurel  altogether. 

For  the  rest,  if  Rotterdam  is  not  a  literary  or  artistic 
city,  she  has  instead  an  extraordinary  number  of  philan- 
thropic institutions,  splendid  reading-rooms  where  all 
the  journals  of  Europe  can  be  found,  and  all  the  con- 
veniences and  amusements  of  a  rich  and  prosperous  city. 

On  the  morning  that  I  left  Rotterdam,  I  saw  a  new 
and  very  Dutch  spectacle  in  the  street  through  which  I 
passed  to  go  to  the  Delft  railway-station.  The  house- 
cleaning  that  goes  on  twice  a  week  in  the  early  morning 
was  in  progress.  All  the  maid-servants  in  the  city,  in 
lilac-cotton  gowns,  white  caps,  white  aprons,  stockings, 
and  sabots,  were  busy,  with  their  sleeves  turned  up, 
washing  doors,  walls,  and  windows.  Some  courageously 
seated  upon  the  window-sills,  half  in,  half  out,  were 
cleaning  the  panes  with  sponges ;  others,  kneeling  on  the 
step,  rubbed  the  pavement  with  a  cloth ;  others,  with 
syringes,  and  long  flexible  tubes  such  as  we  use  to  water 
gardens,  directed  vigorous  jets  of  water  against  the 
second-floor  windows,  that  fell  again  in  heavy  showers; 
some,  with  sponges  and  rags  tied  on  the  ends  of  long 
canes,  mopped  the  upper  windows ;   some   polished  the 


BOTTEBDAM.  93 

knobs  and  Tnetal  plates  upon  tte  doors^  soine  cleaned  the 
stairs^  some  the  furniture,  brought  out  into  the  street  for 
the  purpose ;  the  door-steps  were  encumbered  with  buckets, 
pans,  brushes^  brooms_,  and  benches;  water  dripped  from 
the  walls,  ran  into  the  gutters,  and  splashed  and  sparkled 
everywhere.  And,  what  is  singular,  whilst  labour  in  Hol- 
land is  slow  and  deliberate  in  all  other  forms,  in  this  one 
it  is  quite  different.  All  these  women  have  flushed  faces, 
they  go  in  and  come  out,  spring  and  push  about  with  a 
sort  of  fury,  taking  acrobatic  attitudes,  with  startling 
results  sometimes,  unheeding  of  the  passer-by,  except  in 
so  far  as  it  may  be  necessary  to  drive  him  off,  with  jealous 
looks,  from  the  pavement.  In  short,  there  was  a  rage 
and  fury  of  cleanliness,  a  sort  of  general  ablation  of  the 
city,  that  had  a  sort  of  festive  puerility  about  it,  and  might 
have  been  some  strange  religious  rite,  prescribed  to  purge 
the  place  from  the  infection  of  unclean  spirits. 


94  HOLLAND. 


DELFT 


In  going  from  Rotterdam  to  Delft  I  saw  for  the  first  time 
the  open  country  of  Holland.  It  is  all  one  plain^  a  suc- 
cession of  green  and  flowery  meadows^  crossed  by  long 
files  of  willows^  and  sprinkled  with  groups  of  poplars  and 
elders.  Here  and  there  are  seen  tops  of  steeples^  whirling 
wings  of  windmills,  scattered  herds  of  large  black  and 
white  cows,  with  their  herdsmen,  and  immense  tracts 
that  are  completely  solitary.  There  is  nothing  to  strike 
the  eye,  nothing  salient,  nothing  sloping.  Every  now  and 
then,  in  the  distance,  the  sail  of  a  ship  glides  by,  and 
being  in  a  canal  invisible  from  that  distance,  it  seems  to 
be  gliding  over  the  grass  of  the  meadows,  appearing  and 
disappearing  behind  the  trees.  The  pale  light  gives  to 
the  country  a  certain  soft  and  melancholy  aspect.  A 
slight  mist  makes  every  object  appear  afar  off.  There 
is  a  kind  of  visible  silence,  a  peace  of  line  and  color,  a 
repose  of  all  things,  looking  on  which  the  eye  grows 
dreamy  and  the  imagination  is  lulled. 


IT) 


b 
O 

O 

2 

Q 

Pi 
o 

>-) 

►-) 

Q 
2 


DELFT.  95 

At  a  short  distance  from  Eotterdam  is  the  to^vn  of 
Scliiedam^  surrounded  by  very  lofty  windmills  that  give  it 
the  look  of  a  fortified  place  crowned  with  towers ;  and  in 
the  distance  appears  the  village  of  Vlaardingen^  which  is 
one  of  the  principal  stations  for  the  great  herring-fishery. 

From  Schiedam  to  Delft  I  gave  myself  up  to  the  study 
of  windmills.  The  Dutch  mills  do  not  at  all  resemble 
those  decrepit  objects  which  I  had  seen  the  year  before  in 
La  Mancha^  that  stretched  their  meagre  arms  as  if  im- 
ploring succour  from  earth  and  heaven.  The  Dutch  mills  ^ 
are  large^  strong,  and  full  of  life ;  and  Don  Quixote 
would  have  thought  twice  before  attacking  them.  Some 
are  made  of  stone,  round  and  octagonal,  like  mediaeval 
towers ;  others  are  of  wood,  and  present  the  form  of  a 
box  stuck  upon  the  apex  of  a  pyramid.  The  greater  part 
have  thatched  roofs,  a  wooden  gallery  running  round  the 
middle,  windows  with  white  curtains,  green  doors,  and 
the  use  they  serve  inscribed  upon  the  door.  Besides  the 
absorption  of  water,  they  do  a  little  of  everything :  they 
grind  flour,  wash  rags,  crush  lime,  break  stone,  saw  wood, 
crush  olives,  pulverise  tobacco.  A  mill  is  equivalent  to  a 
farm ;  and  to  build  it,  provide  it  with  grain,  colza,  flour, 
oil,  to  keep  it  going,  and  send  its  product  to  market, 
requires  a  considerable  fortune.  Consequently,  in  many 
places,  the  wealth  of  proprietors  is  measured  by  the 
number  of  their  mills ;  hereditary  property  is  calculated 
by  mills.  They  say  of  a  girl  that  she  has  one  or  two 
windmills  for  a  dowry,  or  two  steam-mills,  which  is 
better;  and  speculators,  who  are  everywhere,  marry  the 
girl  iu  order  to  get  her  mills.     This  myriad  of  winged 


96  HOLLAND, 

towers  scattered  over  the  country  give  it  a  peculiar  aspect 
and  animate  its  solitude.  At  night,  among  the  trees^  they 
have  a  fantastic  appearance^  like  fabulous  birds  watching 
the  heavens;  by  day,  in  the  distance  they  look  like  enor- 
mous frames  for  fire-works ;  they  whirl  round,  stop,  go 
fast,  go  slowly,  breaking  the  silence  with  their  low,  mono- 
tonous tic-tacj  and  when  they  catch  fire,  which  they  do 
sometimes,  especially  the  grain-mills,  they  make  a  wheel 
of  flame,  a  tempest  of  burning  meal,  a  whirl  of  fiery 
clouds,  which  is  quite  infernal  in  its  tumultuous  splendor. 

In  the  carriage,  although  there  were  many  passengers, 
no  one  spoke.  All  were  men  of  mature  years,  with  grave 
faces,  who  looked  at  one  another  in  silence,  and  emitted 
clouds  of  smoke  at  regular  intervals,  as  if  they  were 
measuring  time  by  their  cigars.  When  we  reached  Delft 
I  bowed  as  I  got  out,  and  one  or  two  responded  by  a 
slight  motion  of  the  lips. 

"  Dclft,^^  says  Messer  Ludovico  Guicciardini,  ''is  so 
called  from  the  ditch,  or  water-canal,  which  leads  to  it 
from  the  Meuse — a  ditch  being  vulgarly  called  delft.  It 
is  two  leagues  distant  from  Rotterdam,  and  is  truly  great 
and  beautiful  in  every  part,  with  large  and  handsome 
edifices,  and  streets  wide  and  cheerful.  It  was  founded 
by  Godfrey,  surnamed  the  Gobbo  (hunchback),  Duke  of 
Lotharingia,  who  for  nearly  four  years  occupied  the 
country  of  Holland.^' 

Delft  is  the  city  of  misfortune.  Towards  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century  it  was  almost  entirely  destroyed 
by  fire;  in  1654  the  blowing-up  of  a  powder-magazine 
ruined  more   than  two  hundred   houses;    and  in    1742 


DELFT.  97 

anotlier  catastrophe  of  the  same  kind  occurred.  "William 
the  Silent  was  assassinated  at  Delft  in  1584.  And  here 
decayed  and  almost  disappeared  an  industry  that  was  its 
riches  and  its  glory — the  manufacture  of  majolica,  in 
which  the  Dutch  artisans  had  begun  by  imitating  the 
forms  and  designs  of  Chinese  and  Japanese  porcelain,  and 
had  succeeded  in  producing  admirable  work,  uniting  the 
Asiatic  with  the  Dutch  character,  and  extending  it  all  over 
northern  Europe ;  and  even  now  these  objects  are  sought 
for  eagerly  by  amateurs  of  the  art,  and  almost  as  highly 
prized  as  the  finest  Italian  work. 

Delft  now  is  no  longer  a  manufacturing  or  commercial 
city ;  its  twenty-two  thousand  inhabitants  live  in  profound 
peace.  But  it  is  one  of  the  prettiest  and  most  Dutch  of  the 
cities  of  Holland.  The  streets  are  broad,  crossed  by  canals 
shaded  by  two  rows  of  trees,  flanked  by  houses,  red,  crim- 
son,  and  rose  color,  picked  out  with  white,  which  look  glad 
to  be  so  clean  ;  and  at  every  crossing  meet  and  join  two  or 
three  bridges  of  stone  or  wood,  with  white  railings ;  here 
and  there  a  large  boat  lying  motionless  as  if  enjoying  its 
idleness ;  very  few  people,  closed  doors,  and  no  noise  of 
any  kind. 

I  directed  my  steps  towards  the  new  church,  looking 
about  me  for  the  famous  storks'  nests ;  but  I  could  not 
see  any.  The  tradition  of  the  storks  of  Delft  is,  how- 
ever, still  alive,  and  no  traveller  writes  about  the  city 
without  remembering  them.  Guicciardini  calls  it "  a  memo- 
rable thing,  and  such  as  there  is  no  similar  record  of, 
antique  or  modern.^'  The  fact  occurred  at  the  time  of 
the  great  fire  which  ruined  almost  all  the  city.     There 


98  HOLLAND. 

were  in  Delft  innumerable  storks'  nests.  It  must  be 
understood  that  the  stork  is  the  favorite  bird  of  Holland ; 
the  bird  of  good  fortune,  like  the  swallow ;  welcome  to  all, 
because  it  makes  war  upon  toads  and  frogs;  that  the 
peasants  plant  poles  with  round  pieces  of  wood  on  top 
to  attract  them  to  make  their  nests ;  and  that  in  some 
towns  they  may  be  seen  walking  in  the  streets.  At  Delft 
then  they  were  in  great  numbers.  When  the  fire  broke 
out,  which  was  on  the  3rd  of  May,  the  youug  storks  were 
fledged,  but  could  not  yet  fly.  Seeing  the  fire  approach, 
the  parent  storks  attempted  to  carry  their  young  ones  out 
of  danger,  but  they  were  too  heavy;  and  after  having 
tried  all  sorts  of  desperate  eff'orts,  the  poor  birds  were 
forced  to  give  it  up.  They  might  have  saved  themselves 
and  have  abandoned  the  little  ones  to  their  fate,  as  human 
creatures  often  do  under  similar  circumstances.  But 
they  stayed  instead  upon  their  nests,  gathered  their  little 
ones  about  them,  covered  them  with  their  wings  as  if  to 
retard  as  long  as  possible  the  fatal  moment,  and  so  awaited 
death,  and  so  remained  in  that  loving  and  noble  attitude. 
And  who  shall  say  if,  in  the  horrible  dismay  and  flight 
from  the  flames,  that  example  of  self-sacrifice,  that  volun- 
tary maternal  martyrdom,  may  not  have  given  strength 
and  courage  to  some  weak  soul  who  was  about  to  abandon 
those  who  had  need  of  him  ! 

In  the  great  square  where  the  new  church  stands  I  saw 
again  those  shops  which  had  attracted  my  attention  at 
Kotterdam,  where  every  object  that  can  possibly  be  at- 
tached one  to  the  other  is  suspended  in  long  garlands 
within  and  without^  sometimes  completely  hiding  the  back 


DELFT.  99 

of  the  shop.  The  signs  arc  the  same  as  in  Rotterdam — 
a  bottle  of  beer  hung  on  a  nail_,  a  paint-brushy  a  box,  a 
broom^  and  the  usual  carved  head  with  wide-open  mouth. 

The  new  church,  founded  in  the  latter  part?  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  is  for  Holland  what  Westminster  Abbey 
is  for  England.  It  is  a  large  edifice,  dark  without  and 
naked  within  ;  a  prison  rather  than  the  House  of  God. 

My  eyes  were  at  once  attracted  by  the  splendid  mauso- 
leum of  William  the  Silent;  but  the  custodian  stopped 
me  at  the  simple  tomb  of  Ugo  Grotius_,  Prodigium  Europce, 
as  he  is  called  in  his  epitaph,  the  great  jurisconsult  of 
the  seventeenth  century ;  that  Grotius  who  at  nine  years 
of  age  wrote  Latin  verses,  at  eleven  composed  Greek 
odes,  at  fourteen  philosophic  theses,  and  three  years  later 
accompanied  the  illustrious  Barneveldt  in  his  embassy  to 
Paris,  where  Henry  IV. _,  presenting  him  to  the  Court, 
said  :  "  Behold  the  miracle  of  Holland  ! "  that  Grotius 
who  at  eighteen  was  distinguished  as  poet,  theolo- 
gian, commentator,  and  astronomer,  and  had  written  a 
prose  epic  on  the  city  of  Ostend,  which  Casaubon  trans- 
lated into  Greek,  and  Malesherbe  into  French  verse ;  that 
Grotius  who,  in  his  twenty-fourth  year,  exercised  the 
office  of  Advocate-General  of  Holland  and  Zealand,  and 
wrote  a  celebrated  treatise  on  the  "Liberty  of  the  Seas-*'; 
who  at  thirty  was  Councillor  of  the  city  of  Rotterdam ; 
then  partisan  of  Barneveldt,  persecuted,  condemned  to 
perpetual  imprisonment,  and  shut  up  in  the  Castle  of 
Loevesteen,  where  he  wrote  the  treatise  of  the  "  Right  of 
Peace  and  of  War,'^  which  was  for  a  long  time  the 
codex    of    all    the    publicists    of    Europe;    then    saved 


100  HOLLAND. 

miraculously  by  his  v/ife^  who  caused  herself  to  he  intro- 
duced into  his  prison  in  a  box  believed  to  contain  books, 
which  box  went  out  again  with  the  prisoner  in  it_,  while 
the  wife  remained  a  prisoner  in  his  stead ;  then  the  guest 
of  Louis  XIII.,  and  sent  ambassador  from  Erance  to 
Christina  of  Sweden  ;  and  finally  returning  triumphantly 
to  his  o\\n  country,  where  he  died,  at  Rostock,  full  of 
years  and  honors. 

The  mausoleum  of  William  the  Silent  is  in  the  middle 
of  the  church.  It  is  a  sort  of  small  temple  in  black  and 
white  marble,  loaded  with  ornament,  and  sustained  by 
columns,  between  which  are  four  statues  representing 
Liberty,  Prudence,  Justice,  and  Religion.  Upon  the 
sarcophagus  lies  the  figure  of  the  prince,  in  white  marble, 
and  at  his  feet  the  effigy  of  the  little  dog  that  saved  his 
life  at  the  siege  of  Malines,  waking  him  by  its  barkings 
one  night  in  his  tent,  when  two  Spaniards  were  creeping 
upon  him  to  assassinate  him.  At  the  feet  of  this  figure 
rises  a  fine  bronze  statue  of  Victory,  with  outspread 
wings,  and  supported  only  upon  the  toes  of  the  left  foot ; 
and  opposite,  on  the  other  side  of  the  little  temple, 
another  bronze  statue,  representing  William,  seated, 
dressed  in  his  armour,  with  uncovered  head,  the  helmet 
lying  at  his  feet.  A  Latin  inscription  sets  forth  that  the 
monument  was  raised  by  the  States  of  Holland,  ''  to 
the  eternal  memory  of  that  William  of  Nassau,  whom 
Philip  II.,  scourge  of  Europe,  feared,  and  never  overcame 
or  conquered,  but  killed  by  atrocious  guile."  His  sons 
are  sepulchred  beside  him,  and  in  the  crypt  below  lie  al] 
the  princes  of  his  dynasty. 


DELFT.  101 

In  tlie  presence  of  this  monument  tlie  liglitest  and 
most  frivolous  mind  feels  itself  constrained  to  stop-  and 
ponder,  recalling  the  tremendous  struggle  whose  hero 
and  conqueror  lies  below. 

On  one  side  is  Philip  II.,  on  the  other  Wilh'am  of 
Orange.  Philip,  shut  up  in  the  gloomy  solitudes  of  the 
Escorial,  lord  of  an  empire  that  embraced  all  Spain,  the 
north  and  south  of  Italy,  Belgium,  and  Holland;  in 
Africa,  Oran,  Tunis,  the  Cape  de  Yerde  and  Canary 
islands;  in  Asia,  the  Phillipine  islands;  in  America,  the 
Antilles,  Mexico,  Peru  ;  married  to  the  Queen  ofEiiglaud  ; 
nephew  of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  who  obeyed  him 
almost  as  a  vassal ;  sovereign,  it  may  be  said,  of  Europe, 
since  his  nearer  neighbors  are  all  weakened  by  political 
and  religious  dissensions;  having  under  his  hand  the  best 
soldiers  in  Europe,  the  greatest  captains  of  the  time,  the 
gold  of  America,  the  industry  of  Flanders,  the  science  of 
Italy,  an  army  of  iuformers  chosen  from  all  nations, 
fanatically  devoted  to  himself,  the  blind  instruments  of  his 
will ;  the  most  astute,  the  most  mysterious  of  the  princes 
of  his  time ;  having  on  his  side  everything  that  enchains, 
corrupts,  terrifies,  and  moves  the  world :  arms,  riches, 
glory,  genius,  religion.  Before  this  formidable  being, 
around  whom  all  creatures  prostrate  themselves,  rises 
William  of  Orange. 

This  man,  without  a  kingdom  and  without  an  army,  is 
more  powerful  than  he.  Like  Philip,  he  has  been  a  disciple 
of  Charles  Y.  and  has  learned  the  art  of  founding  thrones, 
and  the  art  of  overturning  them  as  well.  Like  Philip, 
he  is  astute  and  impenetrable ;  but  he  sees  more  clearly 


102  HOLLAND. 

witli  tlie  eyes  of  his  intellect^  into  the  future.  He  pos- 
sesseSj  as  does  liis  enemy^  the  faculty  of  reading  the  souls 
of  men;  but  he  has  also  what  his  enemy  has  not,  the 
power  of  gaining  their  hearts.  He  has  a  good  cause  to 
sustain ;  but  he  knows  how  to  make  use  of  all  the  arts  by 
which  bad  ones  are  supported.  Philip,  who  spies  out  and 
reads  all  men_,  is  himself  spied  out  and  read  by  him.  The 
designs  of  the  great  king  are  discovered  and  circumvented 
before  they  are  put  in  action ;  mysterious  hands  search 
his  caskets  and  his  pockets,  and  mysterious  eyes  read  his 
secret  papers;  William  in  Holland  reads  the  thoughts 
of  Philip  in  the  Escorial;  foresees,  unravels,  overturns  all 
his  plots;  mines  the  earth  under  his  feet,  provokes,  and 
flies  before  him,  but  returns  again  perpetually,  like  a 
phantom  that  he  sees  but  cannot  clutch,  or  clutching  can- 
not destroy.  And  when  at  last  he  dies,  victory  remains 
with  him  dead,  and  defeat  with  his  living  enemy.  Hol- 
land is  without  her  head,  but  the  Spanish  monarchy  is 
shaken  to  its  fall,  and  never  will  recover. 

In  this  prodigious  struggle,  in  which  the  figure  of  the 
king  becomes  smaller  and  smaller  until  it  finally  disap- 
pears, that  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  grows  and  grows, 
until  it  becomes  the  most  glorious  figure  of  the  century. 
On  that  day  when,  hostage  with  the  King  of  France,  he  dis- 
covered the  design  of  Philip  to  establish  the  Inquisition 
in  the  Low  Countries,  he  consecrated  himself  to  the 
defence  of  the  liberties  of  his  country,  and  never  in  his 
life  did  he  hesitate  for  one  moment  in  the  path  he  had 
chosen.  The  advantages  of  noble  birth,  a  royal  fortune, 
the  peaceful  and    splendid    existence    that  he  loved   bv 


PA<1UIEB     0.  il.GUILLAUM£    S. 

William  the  Silent.     {Page  103.) 


DELFT,  103 

nature  and  "habit_,  he  sacrificed  all  for  his  country ;  pro- 
scribed and  reduced  to  poverty,  he  constantly  rejected  the 
ofiers  of  pardon  and  favor  that  were  made  to  him,  under 
a  thousand  forms  and  a  thousand  ways^  by  the  enemy  who 
hated  him  and  feared  him.  Surrounded  by  assassins^  the 
mark  for  the  most  atrocious  calumnies,  accused  even  of 
cowardice  before  the  enemy,  and  of  the  murder  of  the 
wife  whom  he  adored ;  looked  upon  sometimes  with  sus- 
picion by  the  very  people  whom  he  was  defending :  he 
bore  all  with  calmness,  and  in  silence.  He  went  about 
his  chosen  work,  confronting  infinite  peril  with  tranquil 
courage.  Nev^er  did  he  flatter  or  bend  before  the  people, 
never  was  he  blinded  by  their  passion ;  he  was  their  guide, 
their  chief,  their  leader  always ;  he  was  the  mind,  the 
conscience,  and  the  arm  of  the  revolution  :  the  beacon- 
fire  whence  irradiated  the  heat  by  which  his  country 
lived.  Great  in  audacity  as  in  prudence,,  he  preserved  his 
integrity  in  the  time  of  perjury  and  perfidy  ;  calm  in  the 
midst  of  violence,  he  kept  his  hands  immaculate  when  all 
the  courts  in  Europe  were  stained  with  blood.  With  an 
army  gathered  up  here  and  there,  with  allies  weak  and 
doubtful^  harassed  by  the  internal  discords  of  Lutheran 
and  Calvinist,  noble  and  burgher,  magistrates  and  people, 
with  no  great  captains  under  him,  he  had  to  struggle 
against  the  municipal  spirit  of  the  provinces  that  scoffed 
at  his  authority  and  slipped  from  under  his  hand,  and  he 
triumphed  in  a  cause  that  seemed  above  human  control ; 
he  tired  out  the  Duke  of  Alva,  he  tired  out  Requescens, 
he  tired  out  Don  John  of  Austria^  he  tired  out  Alex- 
ander Farnese  ;  he  brought  to  nought  the  plots  of  foreign 


10^  HOLLAND. 

princes  wlio  wished  to  succour  Lis  country  in  order  to 
subjugate  it;  lie  conquered  sympathy  and  aid  from  every 
part  of  Europe;  and  completing  one  of  the  most  splendid 
revolutions  in  history,  founded  a  free  state  in  spite  of  an 
empire  that  was  the  terror  of  the  universe. 

This  mauj  so  tremendous  and  grand  a  figure  before 
the  worldj  was  also  a  loving  husband  and  father,  a  kind 
friend  and  affable  companion,  fond  of  gaiety  and  festivals, 
a  magnificent  and  polished  host.  He  was  accomplished  ; 
knowing,  besides  the  Flemish  tongue,  French,  German, 
Spanish,  Italian,  Latin ;  and  could  discourse  learnedly  of 
most  things.  Although  surnamed  William  the  Silent  (more 
for  having  kept  so  long  the  secret  discovered  at  the  French 
Court  than  because  he  was  habitually  taciturn)  he  was 
one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  of  his  day.  He  was 
simple  in  his  manners,  plain  in  his  dress';  loved,  and  was 
beloved  by,  the  people. 

He  frequently  walked  in  the  streets  of  the  city  alone, 
and  with  his  head  uncovered ;  conversing  with  the  workmen 
and  the  fishermen,  who  offered  him  drink  in  their  own 
cups ;  he  listened  to  their  grievances,  settled  their  diffe- 
rences, and  entered  their  houses  to  re-establish  peace  in 
families,  and  they  called  him  Father  William.  He  was, 
indeed,  the  father,  rather  than  the  son  of  his  country. 
The  sentiments  of  admiration  and  gratitude  that  still  live 
for  him  in  the  hearts  of  the  Hollanders,  have  all  the  inti- 
mate and  tender  character  of  filial  affection;  his  venerated 
name  may  still  be  heard  in  their  mouths ;  his  greatness, 
despoiled  of  every  veil  or  ornament,  remains  eiitire,  clear^ 
firm,  and  solid,  like  his  work. 


DELFT.  105 

After  visiting  tlie  tomb,  I  went  to  see  tlie  place  where 
the  Prince  o£  Orange  was  assassinated.  But  after  having 
related  how  he  lived,  it  is  necessary  to  tell  how  he  died. 

In  the  year  1580,  Philip  II.  had  published  an  edict  by 
which  he  promised  a  reward  of  twenty-five  thousand  gold 
crowns,  and  a  title  of  nobility,  to  anyone  who  should  kill 
the  Prince  of  Orange.  This  infamous  edict,  which  stimu- 
lated at  once  both  cupidity  and  fanaticism,  had  caused 
assassins  to  swarm  on  every  side  about  the  prince,  conceal- 
ing themselves  under  false  names,  and  hiding  their  arms 
and  their  purpose,  while  they  waited  their  opportunity. 

A  young  Biscayan,  named  Jauregny,  a  fervent  Catholic, 
to  whom  a  Dominican  monk  had  promised  the  glory  of 
martyrdom,  was  the  first  to  make  the  attempt.  He  pre- 
pared himself  with  fasting  and  prayer,  heard  mass,  took 
the  Communion,  covered  himself  with  sacred  relics,  pene- 
trated into  the  palace  of  William  of  Orange,  and,  ap- 
proaching the  prince  under  pretext  of  presenting  a  petition, 
fired  a  pistol-shot  at  his  head.  The  ball  passed  through 
the  jaw,  but  the  wound  was  not  mortal,  and  the  prince 
recovered. 

The  assassin  was  struck  down  in  the  act,  with  blows 
of  swords  and  halberds ;  and  afterwards  quartered  in  the 
public  square,  and  his  limbs  were  put  up  over  one  of  the 
gates  of  Antwerp,  where  they  remained  until  the  Duke  of 
Parma  took  that  city,  when  the  Jesuits  gathered  them 
together  and  presented  them  as  relics  to  the  veneration  of 
the  faithful. 

A  little  while  afterwards  another  conspiracy  was  dis^ 
covered  against  the  life  of  the  prince,     A  French  gentle^ 


106  HOLLAND. 

man,  an  Italian,  and  a  Walloon,  who  had  been  following 
him  for  some  time  with  the  intention  of  killing  him,  were 
discovered  and  arrested.  One  of  them  stabbed  himself 
and  died  in  prison,  the  second  was  strangled  in  France, 
and  the  third  succeeded  in  escaping,  after  having  con- 
fessed that  all  three  were  acting  under  the  orders  of  the 
Duke  of  Parma. 

In  the  meantime  Philip^s  agents  were  going  about  the 
country  instigating  persons  to  become  assassins  with 
promises  of  large  reward,  and  priests  and  monks  were 
encouraging  fanatics  with  the  promise  of  aid  and  recom- 
pense in  heaven.  Other  attempts  were  made.  A  Spaniard, 
discovered  and  arrested,  was  quartered  at  Antwerp ;  a  rich 
merchant,  by  name  Hans  Jansen,  was  executed  at  Flushing. 
Several  persons  had  offered  their  arms  to  Alexander  Far- 
nese,  and  had  received  money  and  encouragement  from 
him.  The  Prince  of  Orange,  who  knew  everything, 
nourished  a  vague  presentiment  of  his  approaching  end, 
spoke  of  it  to  those  in  his  intimacy,  and  refused  to  take  any 
measures  to  preserve  his  own  life,  saying* to  those  who 
advised  him  to  do  so :  "  It  is  useless.  God  knows  the 
number  of  my  years.  He  will  dispose  of  me  according 
to  His  will.  If  there  be  a  wretch  who  fears  not  death, 
my  life  is  in  his  hands,  however  I  may  seek  to  guard  it.^' 

Eight  attempts  to  murder  him  were  made  before  the 
successful  one. 

At  the  time  when  the  last  was  consummated,  in  1584, 
four  villains,  each  unknown  to  the  other — an  Englishman, 
a  Scotchman,  a  Frenchman,  and  a  native  of  Lorraine — 
Bere  at  Delft,  where  the  Prince  of  Orange  then  was,  all 


DELFT.  107 

awaiting  tlieir  opportunity  to  assassinate  him.  Besides 
these,  there  had  been  there  for  some  time  a  young  man  of 
twenty-seven  years,  from  Franche  Comte,  a  Catholic,  but 
passing  for  a  Protestant,  Guyon  by  name,  son  of  Peter 
Guyon,  who  had  been  executed  at  Besan9on  for  having 
embraced  Calvinism.  This  so-called  Guyon,  whose  real 
name  was  Balthazar  Gerard,  gave  out  that  he  had  fled 
from  tlie  persecution  of  the  Catholics;  he  led  an  austere 
life,  and  assisted  at  all  the  exercises  of  the  Protestant 
faith ;  in  a  short  time  he  was  regarded  as  a  saint.  Saying 
that  he  had  come  to  Delft  to  obtain  the  honor  of  being 
admitted  into  the  service  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  he  was 
presented  to  him  through  the  recommendation  of  a  Pro- 
testant minister;  the  prince  had  faith  in  him,  and 
appointed  him  to  accompany  M.  de  Schouewalle,  envoy 
from  the  States  of  Holland  to  France.  A  little  while 
after  he  returned  to  Delft  to  bring  to  William  of  Orange 
the  news  of  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  and  pre- 
sented himself  at  the  convent  of  Saiut  Agatha  where 
the  prince  and  his  court  were  then  sojourning.  It  was 
the  second  Sunday  in  July.  William  received  him  in  his 
chamber,  being  then  in  bed.  They  were  alone.  Baltha- 
zar Gerard  was  then  tempted  to  kill  him ;  but  he  had  no 
arms,  and  concealing  his  impatience,  quietly  answered  the 
questions  put  to  him.  W^illiam  gave  him  a  small  sum  of 
money,  told  him  to  prepare  to  return  to  Paris,  and  ordered 
him  to  come  back  the  following  day  for  letters  and  pass- 
ports. With  the  money  given  him  by  the  prince,  Gerard 
bought  two  pistols  from  a  soldier  (who  afterwards  killed 
himself  when  he  knew  the  use  to  which   thev  had  been 


108  HOLLAND. 

put),  and  tlie  next  day  he  again  presented  liimself  at  tlie 
convent  of  Saint  Agatlia.     The  prince,   accompanied  by- 
several  ladies  and   gentlemen  of  his  family,  was  coming 
downstairs  to  dinner  on  the  ground- floor,  and  the  Princess 
of  Orange,  his  fourth  wife,  was  leaning  on  his  arm;  she 
was  that  gentle  and  unfortunate  Louisa  de  Coligny,  who 
on  the  night  of  St.  Bartholomew  had  seen  the  Admiral 
her  father  and  the  Sieur  de  Teligny  her  husband  mur- 
dered before   her  eyes.      Gerard  advanced  to  meet  the 
prince,  stopped  him,  and  asked  him   to  sign  his  passport. 
William  told  him  to  come  back  later,  and  passed  on  into 
the  hall.     Not   a   shadow   of    suspicion  had  crossed  his 
mind ;  but  Louisa  de  Coligny,  made  cautious  and  suspi- 
cions by  experience,  was  disturbed.    That  pale-faced  man, 
wrapped  in  a  long  mantle,  had  made  an  unpleasant  im- 
pression upon  her ;  it  seemed  to  her  that  his  voice  was 
agitated  and  his  visage  convulsed.     During  the  dinner  she 
spoke  to  "William  of  her  suspicions,  and  asked  him  who 
was  this  man, "  who  had  the  worst  countenance  that  she- 
had  ever  seen."     The  prince  smiled,  told  her  that  it  was 
Guyon,  reassured  her,  was  cheerful  as  usual  throughout 
the  meal,  and  when  it  was  over  passed  quietly  out  to  go 
upstairs  again.    Gerard  was  lurking  under  a  dark  archway 
beside  the   staircase,   hidden  by    the  shadow  of  a  door. 
The  moment  the  prince  appeared,  he  came  out,  sprang 
upon  him  as  he  placed  his  foot  upon  the  second  step,  dis- 
charged a  pistol  loaded  with  three  balls  into  his  chest, 
and  took  to  flight.     The  prince  staggered  and  fell  into  the 
arms  of  an  attendant;  everybody  rushed.     He  said  in  a 
faiut  voice,  "  I  am  wounded.     My  God,  have  mercy  on 


JDELFT,  109 

me_,  and  on  my  poor  people  ! ''  He  was  covered  with 
blood.  His  sister,  Catherine  of  Schwartzburg,  said  to 
him,  "  Do  you  recommend  your  soul  to  Jesus  Christ  ?  ^* 
He  answered  faintly,  ''Yes/^  It  was  his  last  word. 
They  placed  him  sitting  on  a  step  of  the  stairs,  and 
asked  him  some  questions;  but  his  senses  were  gone. 
He  was  carried  into  a  room  near  by,  and  there  expired. 

Gerard,  meanwhile,  had  passed  through  the  stables, 
left  the  convent,  and  reached  the  city  1)astion,  where  he  in- 
tended to  jump  down  into  the  moat  and  swim  over  to  the 
opposite  shore,  where  a  saddled  horse  was  waiting  for  him. 

But  in  his  flight  he  dropped  his  hat  and  his  second 
pistol.  One  of  the  prince^'s  servants  and  a  halberdier, 
seeing  these  traces,  started  in  pursuit.  At  the  very 
moment  when  he  was  about  to  take  the  leap  from  the 
bastion  they  seized  him.  "  Infernal  traitor  !  "  they  cried. 
He  answered  calmly,  ''  I  am  not  a  traitor ;  I  am  the 
faithful  servant  of  my  lord.''^  ^^  Of  what  lord  ?  "  they 
demanded.  '^  Of  my  lord  and  master  the  King  of 
Spain,'^  answered  Gerard.  Other  halberdiers  and  pages 
now  came  up,  and  they  dragged  him  into  the  city, 
striking  him  as  they  went  with  fists  and  sword-hilts. 
Believing  from  what  he  heard  that  the  prince  was  not 
dead,  the  wretch  exclaimed  with  gloomy  tranquillity, 
^^  Accursed  be  the  hand  that  missed  its  stroke  !  " 

This  deplorable  security  of  soul  never  abandoned  him 
foi  a  moment.  Before  the  tribunal,  under  long  inter- 
rogations, in  his  dungeon,  loaded  with  irons,  he  main- 
tained the  same  unalterable  calm.  He  bore  the  torture 
without  a  groan.    Between  the  torments,  while  the  jailors 


110  HOLLAND. 

were  resting^  he  spoke  quietly  and  without  ostentation. 
Whilst  on  the  rack_,  lifting  now  and  then  his  bloody  head, 
he  said,  '^Ecce  Homo/'  He  thanked  his  judges  for  the 
food  that  they  permitted  to  be  brought  him,  and  wrote  his 
confession  with  his  own  hand. 

He  was  born  at  Yuillafaus,  in  Burgundy,  had  studied 
law  under  an  advocate  of  Dole,  and  had  there  for  the  first 
time  manifested  a  desire  to  kill  William  of  Orange,  strik- 
ing a  dagger  into  a  door,  and  saying,  "  Thus  would  I  like 
to  plant  a  poignard  into  the  breast  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange  !  ^'  Three  years  later,  hearing  of  Philip^s  edict, 
he  went  to  Luxembourg  with  the  intention  of  committing 
the  murder,  but  was  stopped  by  a  false  report  of  the 
death  of  William  after  the  attempt  of  Jauregny.  A 
little  while  after,  learning  that  the  prince  was  still  alive, 
he  resumed  his  purpose,  and  went  to  Malines  to  ask 
counsel  of  the  Jesuits,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  design 
and  promised  him  that,  if  his  attempt  succeeded,  and  he 
lost  his  life,  he  should  have  the  glory  and  the  honors  of  a 
martyr.  Then  he  went  to  Tournai,  was  presented  to 
Alexander  Farnese,  received  a  confirmation  of  Philip^s 
promise,  was  approved  and  encouraged  by  the  confidants 
of  the  Prince  of  Parma,  and  the  ministers  of  God ;  forti- 
fied himself  with  readings  of  the  Bible,  and  with  fasting 
and  prayer,  and  so,  seized  with  a  divine  exaltation,  dream- 
ing of  Paradise  and  the  angels,  he  departed  for  Delft,  and 
there  fulfilled  "  his  duty  as  a  good  Catholic  and  a  faithful 
subject.^^ 

He  repeated  his  confession  more  than  once  before  his 
judges  ;  pronounced  not  one  word  of  regret  or  repentance, 


DELFT,  111 

boasted  of  Ms  deed ;  called  himself  a  new  David  who  had 
slain  a  new  Goliath;  and  declared  that  if  he  had  not 
already  killed  the  Prince  of  Orange,  he  should  be  ready 
to  do  it  j  his  courage,,  his  calmness,  his  profound  convic- 
tion of  having  accomplished  a  holy  mission  and  a  glorious 
death,  amazed  his  judges,  who  believed  him  to  be  possessed 
of  an  evil  spirit.;  an  examination  was  made;  he  himself 
was  interrogated,  but  he  always  insisted  that  he  had  never 
had  any  relations  other  than  with  God. 

The  sentence  was  read  to  him  on  the  14th  of  July.  ^'  It 
was  a  crime,^''  says  an  illustrious  historian,  "  against  the 
memory  of  the  great  man  whom  it  purposed  to  avenge; 
a  sentence  to  strike  into  insensibility  anyone  without  the 
superhuman  fortitude  of  the  prisoner. ^^ 

He  was  condemned  to  have  his  right  hand  encased  in 
a  case  of  red-hot  iron ;  his  arms,  legs,  and  thighs  torn 
with  hot  pincers ;  his  chest  cut  open,  his  heart  torn  out 
and  thrown  in  his  face ;  the  head  severed  from  the  body 
and  stuck  on  a  pike ;  the  body  quartered,  and  each  part 
placed  over  a  gate  of  the  city. 

Listening  to  the  reading  of  this  horrid  sentence,  the 
wretched  man  never  changed  color,  or  gave  any  sign  of 
terror,  or  grief,  or  astonishment.  He  only  opened  his 
doublet,  laid  bare  his  chest,  and  in  a  firm  voice,  fixing  his 
eyes  steadily  on  the  face  of  his  judges,  repeated  the  words  : 
*'  Ecce  Homo  ! '' 

What  was  this  man  ?  Only  a  fanatic,  as  many  believed, 
or  a  monster  of  wickedness,  or  both  together,  with  the 
addition  of  an  insatiable  ambition  ? 

The  sentence  was  executed  on  the  following  day.     The 


112  HOLLAND, 

preparations  were  made  uncler  the  eyes  of  tlie  prisoner, 
"who  looked  on  with  indifference.  The  executioner's 
assistant  began  by  crushing  the  pistol,  instrument  of  the 
crime,  with  blows  of  a  hammer.  At  the  first  blow,  the 
head  of  the  hammer  flew  off  and  wounded  another  assis- 
tant in  the  ear ;  the  people  laughed,  and  Gerard  laughed 
also.  When  he  appeared  on  the  scaffold,  his  body 
was  horrible  to  see.  Whilst  his  hand  crackled  and 
smoked  in  the  burning  tube,  he  stood  mute ;  nor  did  he 
utter  a  cry  while  the  red-hot  pincers  tore  his  flesh ;  when 
the  last  act  came,  he  dropped  his  head,  murmured  some 
incomprehensible  words,  and  expired. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  had 
'  spread  consternation  throughout  the  country.  His  body 
was  exposed  for  one  month  on  a  bier,  around  which  the 
people  flocked,  kneeling  and  in  tears.  His  funeral  was 
worthy  of  a  king ;  there  came  the  States  General  of  the 
United  Provinces,  the  Council  of  State,  the  States  of 
Holland,  the  magistrates,  the  ministers  of  religion,  the 
princes  of  the  house  of  Nassau.  Twelve  gentlemen  carried 
the  body ;  four  great  nobles  held  the  cords  of  the  pall ; 
the  princess  horse  followed,  splendidly  caparisoned,  and 
led  by  a  groom ;  and  there  was  seen,  in  the  middle  of  the 
cortege  of  nobles,  a  youth  of  eighteen  years,  whose  hands 
were  to  receive  the  glorious  heritage  of  the  dead,  who 
was  destined  to  humiliate  the  Spanish  armies,  to  con- 
strain Spain  to  plead  for  truce  and  recognise  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  United  Provinces.  That  youth  was 
Maurice  of  Orange,  the  son  of  William,  under  whom  a  short 
time  after  his  father's  death,  the  States  of  Holland  con- 


DELFT.  113 

ferred  the  dignity  of  Statholder,  and  confided  to  him 
the  supreme  command  of  the  forces  by  land  and  sea. 

Whilst  Holland  wept  her  loss,,  in  all  the  cities  subject 
to  the  King  of  Spain  the  Catholic  clergy  glorified  the 
murderer  and  his  deed;  the  Jesuits  exalted  him  as  a 
martyr ;  the  university  of  Louvain  published  his  apology ; 
the  canons  of  Bois-le-Duc  chanted  a  Te  Deum,  Some 
years  afterwards^  the  family  of  Gerard  received  from  the 
King  of  Spain  a  title  of  nobility,  and  the  confiscated  lands 
of  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  Burgundy. 

The  house  where  the  Prince  of  Orange  was  assassinated 
still  exists ;  it  is  a  gloomy-looking  edifice,  with  arched 
windows  and  a  narrow  door,  forming  part  of  the  cloister 
of  the  ancient  church  of  St.  Agatha,  and  it  still  bears 
the  name  of  Prinsenshof,  although  it  now  serves  as  a 
cavalry  barrack.  I  asked  leave  of  entrance  from  the 
soldier  on  guard ;  a  corporal,  who  knew  a  little  French, 
accompanied  me;  we  crossed  a  court  full  of  soldiers, 
and  reached  the  memorable  spot.  I  saw  the  staircase, 
the  dark  corner  where  Gerard  crouched,  the  door  of  the 
room  where  William  dined  for  the  last  time,  and  the 
traces  of  the  balls  on  the  wall,  isolated  in  a  white  space, 
with  an  inscription  in  Dutch  setting  forth  that  here  the 
father  of  his  country  died. 

The  corporal  pointed  out  the  way  by  which  the  murderer 
had  fled.  Whilst  I  looked  about  with  that  thoughtful 
curiosity  that  one  feels  under  such  circumstances,  soldiers 
went  up  and  down ;  they  stopped  to  look  at  me,  and  went 
off  whistling  and  singing ;  loud  laughter  rang  from  the 
courtyard;  and  all  that  youthful  life  and  gaiety  contrasted 


114  HOLLAND. 

touchingly  with  tlie  sad  and  solemn  memories  of  the 
place,  like  tlie  frolic  of  children  in  a  room  where  some 
dear  parent  died. 

Opposite  the  Prinsenshof  is  the  oldest  church  in  Delft, 
which  contains  the  tomb  of  that  famous  Admiral  Tromp, 
the  veteran  of  the  Dutch  navy,  who  saw  thirty- two  sea- 
fights,  scattered  the  English  fleet  under  Blake  at  the 
battle  of  the  Dunes,  in  1652,  and  returned  into  port  with 
a  broom  fastened  to  his  mainmast,  to  indicate  that  he 
had  swept  the  English  from  the  seas.  There  is  the  tomb 
of  Peter  Hein,  who,  from  a  simple  fisherman,  rose  to  be 
Grand  Admiral,  and  made  that  memorable  haul  of  Spanish 
ships  that  carried  in  their  sides  more  than  eleven  millions 
of  florins.  There  is  the  tomb  of  Leuwenhoek,  the  father 
of  the  science  of  the  "  infinitely  little,^'  he  who,  as  Parini 
says,  '^  saw  with  his  investigating  glass  the  embryo  man 
floating  in  the  genital  sea.'^ 

The  church  has  a  tall  steeple,  surmounted  by  four  small 
conical  towers,  which  leans  like  the  tower  of  Pisa,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  sinking  of  the  ground.  In  a  cell  in  this 
tower  Gerard  was  confined  on  the  night  following  the 
assassination. 

At  Rotterdam  they  had  given  me  a  letter  for  a  citizen 
of  Delft,  requesting  him  to  show  me  his  house.  "  He 
desires,"  said  the  letter,  ^^  to  penetrate  the  mysteries  of  an 
old  Dutch  house  :  lift  for  a  moment,  for  his  benefit,  the 
curtain  of  the  sanctuary .''  I  had  no  difficulty  in  finding 
the  house,  and  when  I  saw  it,  I  exclaimed  :  ^^  This  is  what 
I  want." 

It  was  a  small  house  at  the  end  of  a  street  opening  on 


DELFT,  115 

the  fielclsj  of  one  storey  only,  red,  with  a  pointed  fa9ade, 
planted  on  the  edge  of  the  canal  as  if  looking  at  itself  in 
the  water,  with  a  fine  spreading  linden-tree  before  it,  and 
a  drawbridge  directly  in  front.  There  were  the  white 
curtains,  the  green  door,  the  flowers,  the  little  mirrors ; 
it  was  a  small  model  of  a  Dutch  house. 

The  street  was  deserted ;  before  knocking  at  the  door  I 
stood  a  moment  to  look  and  muse.  That  house  gave  me 
a  better  idea  of  Holland  than  I  could  sret  from  any  book. 
It  was  at  once  the  cause  and  the  effect  of  the  family  affec- 
tion, the  modest  desires,  the  independent  character  of  the 
Dutch  people.  In  my  own  country  the  real  home  does 
not  exist ;  there  is  nothing  but  an  apartment,  a  portion 
of  a  great  barrack,  in  which  one  lives  concealed,  but  not 
alone,  hearing  a  thousand  noises  of  strange  people,  who 
disturb  our  grief  with  echoes  of  their  joy,  or  our  joy  with 
rumours  of  their  grief.  The  true  house  and  home  is  in 
Holland,  the  personal  house,  distinct  from  others,  modest, 
discreet,  and,  precisely  because  it  is  distinct  from  others, 
inimical  to  mystery  and  intrigue;  cheerful  when  the 
family  that  inhabits  it  is  cheerful,  and  sad  when  they  are 
sad.  In  these  houses,  with  the  canals  and  drawbridges 
before  them,  every  modest  citizen  feels  a  little  of  the 
solitary  dignity  of  the  castellan,  or  the  commander  of  a 
fortress,  or  a  ship ;  and  sees,  indeed,  from  his  windows, 
as  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel  at  anchor,  a  uniform  and 
boundless  plain,  which  inspires  him  with  the  same  senti- 
ments and  thoughts,  grave  and  free,  as  are  inspired  by 
the  sea.  The  trees  surrounding  his  habitation,  almost  like 
a  garment  of  verdure,  allow  only  a  broken  and  discreet 


116  HOLLAND, 

liglit  to  penetrate  it;  the  bark  laden  with  merclianrlise 
floats  before  his  door ;  he  hears  no  sound  of  horses^  feet, 
nor  crack  of  whip,  nor  songs,  nor  shouts ;  around  him  all 
the  movements  of  l.fe  are  slow  and  silent ;  everything 
breathes  peace  and  gentleness ;  and  the  neighbouring 
steeple  announces  the  hour  with  a  flood  of  harmony  sweet 
and  constant  as  his  affections  and  his  labor. 

I  knocked ;  the  door  was  opened  by  the  master  of  the 
house  in  person,  who,  having  read  my  letter,  gave  me  a 
scrutinising  glance,  and  invited  me  to  enter.  Dutchmen, 
as  a  rule,  are  diffident.  With  us,  the  first  comer  who 
brings  a  letter  of  introduction  is  received  with  open  arms, 
as  if  he  were  our  most  intimate  friend ;  and  very  often  we 
do  nothing  for  him.  The  Hollanders,  on  the  contrary, 
receive  you  coldly,  so  much  so  as  to  be  sometimes  rather 
mortifying ;  but  then  they  offer  you  all  sorts  of  service, 
with  the  best  will  in  the  world,  and  without  the  least 
appearance  of  laying  you  under  an  obligation. 

The  inside  of  the  house  corresponded  perfectly  with 
the  outside ;  it  seemed  like  the  interior  of  a  ship.  A 
winding  staircase  of  wood  that  shone  like  ebony  led  to 
the  upper  rooms.  Mats  and  carpets  covered  the  stairs 
and  landing-places,  and  lay  before  all  the  doors.  The 
rooms  were  as  small  as  cells ;  the  furniture  exquisitely 
clean ;  all  the  knobs  and  bolts  and  ornaments  of  metal 
shone  as  if  they  had  just  been  made ;  and  on  every  side 
there  were  quantities  of  china  jars,  vases,  and  cups; 
lamps,  mirrors,  little  pictures,  brackets,  toys,  and  objects 
of  every  use  and  form,  attesting  the  thousand  small  needs 
created  by  a  sedentary  life,  the  provident  activity,   the 


INTERIOR    OF    A    HOUSE    IN    HOLLAND.       {^Page  Il6.) 


DELFT.  117 

constant  care^  the  love  of  small  tilings,  the  taste  for  order 
and  the  economy  of  space ;  the  residence,  in  short,  of  a 
quiet,  home-loving  woman. 

The  goddess  of  this  temple,  who  did  not  or  would  not 
speak  French,  was  hidden  somewhere,  in  ^ome  penetralia 
which  I  could  not  guess  at. 

We  went  down  to  see  the  kitchen ;  it  was  splendid. 
When  I  returned  to  Italy  and  gave  a  description  of  it  to 
my  mother  and  the  servant,  who  piqued  herself  on  her 
neatness,  they  were  annihilated.  The  walls  were  as  white 
as  untouched  snow;  the  saucepans  reflected  objects  like 
mirrors;  the  mantelpiece  was  ornamented  by  a  species  of 
muslin  curtain,  like  the  canopy  of  a  bed,  without  a  trace 
of  smoke ;  the  fire-place  beneath  Avas  covered  with  china 
tiles  that  looked  as  bright  as  if  no  fire  had  ever  been 
lighted  there;  the  shovel,  tongs,  and  poker,  and  the 
chain-s  and  hooks,  seemed  made  of  polished  steel.  A 
lady  in  a  ball-dress  might  have  gone  into  every  hole  and 
corner  of  that  kitchen  and  come  forth  without  a  smirch 
upon  her  whiteness. 

The  maid- servant,  meanwhile,  was  cleaning  up,  and  her 
master  commented  thus :  "  To  have  an  idea  of  what 
cleanliness  is  with  us,  you  should  watch  one  of  these 
women  for  an  hour.  Here  a  house  is  soaped,  and  sponged, 
and  rubbed,  like  a  person.  It  is  not  cleaning,  it  is  making 
a  toilette.  She  blows  in  the  cracks  between  the  bricks, 
pokes  in  the  corners  with  finger  and  pin,  makes  a  minute 
supervision  enough  to  fatigue  the  eye  as  well  as  the  arm. 
It  is  truly  a  national  passion.  These  girls,  who  are  in 
general    phlegmatic    enough,    become   quite    frantic   on 


118  HOLLAND. 

deaninff  da^vs.  We  are  not  masters  in  our  own  houses 
then.  They  invade  the  chambers,  and  turn  everything 
upside  down;  they  are  real  cleaning  Bacchantes;  they 
Bxcite  themselves  in  washing  and  sweeping/"* 

I  asked  him  whence  this  mania  for  which  Holland  is 
remarkable  was  supposed  to  come.  He  gave  me  the  same 
reasons  that  are  given  by  others :  the  atmosphere  of  the 
country,  which  injures  wood  and  metal;  the  dampness_, 
the  smallness  of  the  houses,  and  the  multiplicity  of  small 
objects  favoring  dust;  the  superabundance  of  water;  a 
certain  need  of  the  eye,  that  eventually  finds  beauty  in 
simple  cleanliness;  and  finally,  that  emulation  which 
pushes  things  to  extremes.  "  But  this  is  not/^  he  added, 
*^  the  cleanest  part  of  Holland :  the  excess,  the  delirium 
of  cleanliness  is  to  be  found  in  the  northern  provinces.'^ 

We  went  out  for  a  turn  through  the  city.  It  was  not 
yet  noon ;  and  the  servant-maids  were  out  on  all  sides  as 
at  Rotterdam.  It  is  a  singular  thing  that  all  over  the 
country,  from  Rotterdam  to  Groningen,  and  from  Harlem 
to  Nimegnen,  they  are  all  dressed  exactly  alike — in  a 
lilac  print  gown,  with  a  white  cap  and  white  wooden 
shoes.  I  thought  at  first  that  they  formed  a  sort  of 
national  corporation  and  wore  a  uniform.  They  are  gene- 
rally very  young,  middle-aged  women  not  being  able  to 
endure  the  fatigues  that  they  go  through,  blonde  and 
plump,  with  the  posterior  curves  (to  quote  Diderot)  enor- 
mous, and  an  appearance  of  perfect  health  shown  in  their 
clear  white  and  red  complexions. 

All  at  once  T  remembered  a  certain  entry  made  in  my 
note-book  before  leaving  Italy^  and  I  asked  my  compa-. 


DELFT.  119 

nion :  "  Are  servants  in  Holland  the  eternal  torments  of 
their  mistresses  ?  '* 

Here  comes  in  a  parenthesis.  It  is  acknowledged  that 
ladies  not  too  highly  placed  to  have  to  do  directly  with 
their  female  servants  generally  talk,  in  their  visits  to  each 
other^  of  nothing  but  these  servants.  It  is  always  the 
same  complaint  of  insupportable  defects^  of  insolence 
endured^  of  profiting  on  their  purchases^  of  shameless 
pretensions,  and  of  other  similar  calamities,  which  all  end 
with  the  same  refrain  :  that  honest  and  faithful  servants, 
such  as  once  gained  the  affection  of  the  family  and  grew 
old  in  their  service,  are  no  more  to  be  found ;  that  one 
must  change  continually,  and  that  there  is  no  way  of 
remedying  the  evil. 

Is  this  true,  or  is  it  not  true  ?  Is  it  a  consequence  of 
the  liberty  and  equality  of  classes,  rendering  service 
harder  and  servants  more  exacting?  Is  it  an  effect  of  the 
relaxation  of  manners  and  public  discipline,  felt  also  in 
the  kitchen  ?  However  it  may  be,  it  is  a  fact  that  in  my 
own  house  I  heard  the  same  ever-recurring  complaint, 
until  one  day,  whsn  I  was  about  to  leave  for  Madrid,  I 
said  to  my  mother :  '*  If  anything  in  Madrid  can  console 
me  in  my  absence  from  my  family,  it  will  be  that  I  never 
shall  hear  this  question  discussed.^' 

On  my  arrival  at  Madrid,  the  very  first  thing  my  land- 
lady said  to  me  was  that  she  had  been  obliged  to  change 
her  servants  three  times  in  one  month,  that  it  was  really 
a  desperate  state  of  things,  and  that  she  did  not  know 
which  way  to  turn,  and  every  day  there  was  the  same 
lamentation. 


120  HOLLAND. 

At  home  again  I  related  this  anecdote^  and  my  mother, 
laughing,  said  that  it  was  probably  an  annoyance  which 
existed  in  all  countries.  ^'No/^  I  answered,  ^'in  the 
north  it  cannot  be  so/"*  I  went  to  Paris,  and  asked  the 
first  acquaintance  tbat  1  met,  whether  there,  as  in  Italy 
and  Spain,  ladies^  lives  were  made  miserable  by  their 
servants.  ^^  Ah  I  mon  cher  Monsieur  !  '^  she  replied,  with 
clasped  hands  and  upturned  eyes  ;  "  do  not  speak  of  it !  '* 
and  then  followed  a  long  and  lamentable  story.  Let  us 
see  in  London,  I  thought.  Entering  into  conversation 
with  an  English  lady,  and  asking  the  same  question,  she 
covers  her  eyes  with  her  hands,  and  responds  with  em- 
phasis :  "  They  are  flagellum  Dei ! " 

Some  hope  still  remained  to  me  in  Holland,  and  I 
questioned  my  cicerone  at  Delft ;  and  awaited  with 
anxiety  his  reply.  "  Sir,"*'  he  answered,  after  a  moment^s 
reflection,  '^  we  have  in  Holland  a  proverb  which  pro- 
nounces that  servants  are  a  cross  sent  from  God.^'  My  last 
hope  was  annihilated.  "  Fir  it  of  all,^^  he  continued, 
"  there  is  the  trouble  that  if  your  house  is  of  any  size 
you  must  keep  two  women-servants,  one  to  cook  and  one 
to  clean,  it  being  impossible,  with  the  mania  which  pos- 
sesses them  for  washing  the  very  air,  that  one  can  serve 
for  both.  Then  they  are  all  mad  for  liberty ;  they  choose 
to  stay  out  until  ten  o^ clock  in  the  evening ;  to  have  one 
day  in  the  seven  completely  free.  Then  their  betrothed 
lover  must  be  tolerated  as  a  visitor ;  and  they  must  be 
allowed  to  dance  in  the  streets,  and  to  go  and  raise  the 
very  devil  at  the  Kermesse.  More,  when  you  dismiss 
the  in,  you  must  wait  until  they  find  it  convenient  to  gOj 


DELFT.  121 

and  often  that  is  not  for  months.  Their  wages  amount 
to  ninety  or  one  hundred  florins  a  year ;  and  besides  this, 
so  much  percentage  on  all  the  house  expenditure;  pre- 
sents, rigorously  exacted,  from  all  invited  guests;  extra 
presents  of  money  and  clothes ;  and  always  and  above  all, 
patience,  patience,  and  agam  patience/' 

Passing  through  a  quiet  side-street,  I  saw  two  ladies, 
one  after  the  other,  stop  and  read  a  placard  appended  to 
a  door,  make  a  gesture  of  sorrow,  and  pass  on.  My  com- 
panion explained,  in  answer  to  my  question,  a  singular 
custom  of  the  country.  Upon  that  bit  of  paper  was 
written  that  such  or  such  a  sick  person  was  r/orse. 
When  any  one  of  a  family  is  ill,  a  bulletin  is  affixe4 
every  morning  to  the  door,  so  that  inquiring  friends 
may  not  have  to  knock  and  enter.  The  same  sort  of 
announcement  is  made  on  other  occasions.  In  some 
towns  the  birth  of  a  boy  baby  is  made  known  by  hanging 
to  the  door  a  pink  silk  ball  covered  with  lace,  which  is 
called  in  Dutch  "  a  proof  of  birth,''^  If  the  baby  is  a  girl, 
there  is  a  small  bit  of  paper  attached  above  it ;  if  twins, 
the  lace  is  double ;  and  for  several  days  after  the  birth 
there  is  a  written  paper  setting  forth  that  the  child  and 
mother  are  doing  well,  that  they  have  passed  a  good 
night,  or  the  contrary,  as  the  case  may  be.  At  one  time 
the  announcement  of  birth  over  a  door  kept  off  the  family 
creditors  for  nine  days ;  but  I  think  this  custom  is  fallen 
into  disuse,  although  it  must  have  been  conducive  to  an 
increase  of  population. 

In  that  short  walk  about  Delft,  I  met  again  certain 
funereal  figures  which  I  had  seen  in  Rotterdam,  without 


122  HOLLAND, 

being  able  to  tell  wlietlier  they  were  priests^  or  magi- 
strates^ or  undertakers,  for  tliey  had  a  look  of  all  three. 
They  wore  three-eornered  hats,  with  a  long  black  weeper, 
a  black  swallow-tailed  coat,  black  small-clothes,  and 
stockings,  black  cloaks,  pumps  with  ribbons,  white  cravats 
and  gloves,  and  a  black-edged  paper  always  in  their 
hands.  My  companion  informed  me  that  they  were 
called  aanspreckerSj  and  that  their  ofUce  was  to  carry  the 
announcement  of  death  to  parents  and  friends,  and  to 
proclaim  it  in  the  streets.  Their  dress  is  modified  in 
different  cities,  or  according  to  whether  they  be  Protestant 
or  Catholic.  In  some  places  they  wear  an  enormous  hat  a  la 
Don  Basillo.  They  are  in  general  very  carefully  dressed 
and  are  got  up  with  a  certain  elegance  which  contrasts 
irreverently  with  their  character  of  announcers  of  death, 
or,  as  some  traveller  calls  them,  living  mortuary  letters. 

We  saw  one  standing  in  front  of  a  house,  and  my 
comnanion  called  mv  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  shut- 
ters  were  half  closed,  which  was  a  sign  that  someone 
was  dead  in  the  family.  I  asked  who.  ^^  I  do  not  know,'' 
he  answered,  "but  judging  by  the  shutters  it  cannot  be 
a  vcrv  near  relative." 

This  argument  puzzling  me  somewhat,  he  explained 
that  in  Holland  when  anyone  died  in  a  family,  they 
closed  one,  or  two,  or  three  of  the  folding  shutters,  ac- 
cording to  the  degree  of  relationship  of  the  deceased. 
Each  fold  of  the  shutter  denoted  a  degree.  For  a  father 
or  mother,  they  closed  all  save  one ;  for  a  cousin,  one  only ; 
for  a  brother,  two ;  and  so  on.  This  custom  is  apparently 
an  ancient  one,  still    enduring  because  in  this  country 


DELFT  123 

changes  are  slow  and  difficultj  only  occurring  when  they 
are  unavoidable.* 

I  should  have  liked  to  see  at  Delft  the  house  where  the 
beer-sliop  of  the  painter  Steen  once  existed,  but  my  host 
assured  me  that  tliere  was  no  remembrance  of  it  remaining. 
Apropos  of  painters,  however,  he  gave  me  the  agreeable 
intelligence  that  I  was  then  in  that  pa^t  of  Holland  which 
is  comprised  between  Delft,  the  Hague,  the  sea,  the  town 
of  Alkmar,  the  gulf  of  Amsterdam,  and  the  ancient  lake 
of  Harlem,  which  may  be  called  properly  the  country  of 
Dutch  painting,  both  because  the  great  artists  were  born 
there,  and  because,  being  singularly  picturesque,  they 
loved  it  and  studied  it  much.  I  was  therefore  in  the 
bosom  of  Holland,  and  leaving  Delft  should  enter  her 
very  heart. 

Before  my  departure  I  took  a  hasty  glance  at  the  mili- 
tary arsenal,  occupying  a  large  building  which  served 
first  as  a  storehouse  to  the  East  India  Company,  and  com- 
municates with  an  artillery-barrack  and  a  large  powder- 
magazine  placed  outside  the  city.  There  is  also  at  Delft 
the  great  Polytechnic  School  of  Engineering,  the  true 
military  school  of  Holland,  whence  issue  the  officers  for 
the  army  of  defence  against  the  sea,  and  it  is  these  youth- 
ful warriors  of  the  dykes  aud  cataracts,  about  three  hun- 
dred, who  give  life  to  the  quiet  city  of  Grotius.  Whilst 
I  was  going  on  board  the  vessel  that  was  to  take  me  to 
the  Hague,  my  Dutchman  was  describing  to  me  the  last 


*  A  custom  analogous  to  this  existed  in  Philadelphia   twenty-five 
years  ago,  aud  perhaps  exists  still. — Trans. 


124  HOLLAND. 

festival  celebrated  by  tbe  students  of  Delft;  one  of  tliose 
festivals  peculiar  to  Holland^  a  kind  of  historical  masque- 
rade,, like  a  reflection  of  past  grandeur,  which  serves  to 
maintain  alive  in  the  minds  of  people  the  traditions  of 
illustrious  personages  and  events  of  others  times.  One 
great  cavalcade  represented  the  entrance  into  Aruhem  in 
1492  of  Charles  d^Egmont,  Duke  of  Gueldres  and  Coun!; 
of  Zuften ;  of  that  family  of  Egmont  which  gave  in  the 
noble  and  unfortunate  Count  Lamoral  the  first  great 
victim  for  the  liberty  of  Holland  to  the  Duke  of  Alva's 
axe.  Two  hundred  students  on  horseback,  in  armour, 
with  gilded  and  emblazoned  coats  of  arms,  with  tall 
plumes  and  long  swords,  formed  the  cortege  of  the  Dake 
of  Gueldres.  Then  came  halberdiers,  archers,  and  lans- 
quenechts,  dressed  in  all  the  showy  splendor  of  the 
fifteenth  century;  the  bands  played,  the  city  glowed  with 
lights,  and  an  immense  crowd  from  all  parts  of  Holland 
thronged  the  streets  and  looked  on  at  that  splendid  vision 
of  a  past  age. 


THE    HAGU 


The  vessel  lay  near  a  bridge^  in  a  little  basin  formed 
by  the  canal  that  goes  from  Delft  to  the  Hague,  and 
shaded  by  trees  like  a  garden  lakelet. 

The  boats  which  carry  passengers  from  one  city  to 
another  are  called  trekschuyten.  The  treckshiiyt  is  the  tra- 
ditional bark,  emblematic  of  Holland,  as  the  gondola  is  of 
Venice.  Esquiroz  calls  it  the  genius  of  old  Holland 
floating  on  the  water.  And,  in  fact,  whoever  has  not 
travelled  in  a  trechshuyt  does  not  know  the  most  original 
and  most  poetic  side  of  Dutch  life. 

It  is  a  large  boat  almost  entirely  occupied  by  a  sort  of 
house,  in  the  form  of  a  diligence,  divided  into  two  com- 
partments :  that  at  the  prow  for  second-class  passengers, 
and  that  at  the  poop  for  the  first.  Upon  the  prow  is 
planted  an  iron  bar  with  a  ring  through  which  is  passed  a 
long  cord,  which  is  fastened  at  one  end  near  the  helm, 
and  at  the  other  is  attached  to  a  horse  ridden  by  one  of 
the  boatmen.     The  windows  of  this  little  house  have  their 


126  HOLLAND. 

white  curtains ;  the  walls  and  doors  are  painted ;  in  the 
first-class  compartment  there  are  cushioned  seats,  a  table 
with  a  few  books,  a  closet,  a  looking-glass;  everything 
shining  with  polish.  As  I  put  down  my  valise  I  dropped 
some  cigar-ash  under  the  table;  when  I  came  in  again  a 
moment  after,  it  was  gone. 

I  was  alone,  and  had  not  long  to  wait  j  the  helmsman 
gave  a  sign,  the  horseman  mounted,  and  the  treckschiiyt 
moved  quietly  through  the  water. 

It  was  about  one  o'clock  in  the  day  and  the  sun  was 
shining  brilliantly,  but  the  boat  was  in  the  shade.  The 
canal  was  bordered  by  two  rows  of  lindens,  elms,  and  wil- 
lows, and  high  hedges  that  hid  the  country.  We  seemed 
to  be  sailing  through  a  wood.  At  every  turn  we  saw  a 
deep  distance,  green,  and  closed  in,  and  a  windmill  on  the 
bank.  The  water  was  covered  with  a  carpet  of  marine 
plants,  in  some  places  studded  with  white  star-flowers, 
lilies,  and  the  marsh-lentiL  The  high  verdant  wall  that 
bordered  the  canal  was  open  here  and  there,  and  we  could 
see  as  through  a  window  the  distant  horizon,  hidden  again 
in  an  instant. 

At  intervals  we  came  to  a  bridge.  It  was  fine  to  see 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  manoeuvre  of  passing  the 
bridge  was  performed,  and  to  watch  two  treckscMiyten 
meet  and  pass,  without  a  word  or  smile  being  exchanged 
between  the  two  conductors,  as  if  gravity  and  silence 
were  obligatory.  All  along  the  water-way  we  heard  no 
sound  save  the  rustle  of  the  sails  of  windmills. 

We  met  large  boats  loaded  with  vegetables,  with  peat, 
with  stones,  with  casks,  towed  by  a  man  with  a  long  rope, 


THE  HAGUE.  127 

sometimes  assisted  by  a  large  dog.  Some  were  tov»^ed  by 
a  man^  a  woman,  and  a  cliild,  one  bcliind  the  other,  with 
the  cord  attached  to  a  sort  of  leathern  or  linen  belly- 
band — all  three  bending  forward  at  such  an  angle  that  it 
seemed  a  miracle  how  they  kept  their  feet  at  all.  Other 
large  boats  were  towed  by  one  old  woman  alone.  On 
some  there  was  a  woman  with  a  child  at  her  breast,  at  the 
elm  ;  other  children  about  her,  a  cat  seated  on  a  sack,  a 
dog,  a  hen,  flower-pots,  and  a  bird-cage.  On  others  the 
woman  was  rocking  a  cradle  with  her  foot  while  her 
fingers  were  knitting  a  stocking,  or  cooking  the  dinner; 
and  in  others,  the  whole  family  was  assembled  eating  and 
chattering,  while  one  steered.  No  words  can  describe  the 
air  of  peace  and  tranquillity  that  seemed  to  surround 
these  people,  in  their  aquatic  homes,  with  their  animals, 
become,  as  one  may  say,  amphibious;  the  placidity  of  that 
floating  existence,  the  apparent  security  and  freedom  of 
those  wandering  families.  Thousands  of  people  in  Hol- 
land have  no  other  home  than  their  boats.  A  man  takes 
a  wife,  between  them  they  buy  a  boat,  and  installing  them- 
selves on  board,  live  by  carrying  goods  to  and  from  the 
markets.  The  children  are  born  and  grow  up  on  the 
water;  the  boat  carries  all  their  small  belongings,  their 
domestic  afi'ections,  their  past,  their  present,  and  their 
future.  They  labor  and  save,  and  after  many  years  they 
buy  a  larger  boat,  selling  the  old  one  to  a  family 
poorer  than  themselves,  or  handing  it  over  to  the  eldest 
son  who  in  his  turn  instals  his  wife  taken  from  another 
boat,  and  seen  for  the  first  time  in  a  chance  meeting 
on  the  canal.      And  sO;  from    boat  to  boat,  from  canal 


1l8  HOLLAND. 

to  caual^  life  flows  on  mild  and  tranquil  as  the  wan- 
dering house  that  shelters  it  or  the  silent  water  that 
accompanies  it. 

For  a  time  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  on  the  banks 
but  some  small  peasant-houses;  then  we  began  to  sec 
villas^  summer-houses^  and  cottages  half  hidden  among 
the  trees ;  and  in  a  shady  nook  some  blonde  lady,  seated,, 
dressed  in  white,  and  with  a  book  in  her  hand ;  or  some 
stout  gentleman  enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  smoke,  bearing 
the  satisfied  air  of  a  wealthy  merchant.  All  these  villas 
are  painted  rose-color  or  blue,  and  have  varnished  roofs, 
terraces  supported  by  columns,  little  gardens  in  front  and 
around  them,  with  tiny  alleys  and  walks ;  miniature  gar- 
dens, clean,  smooth,  and  dainty.  Some  of  the  houses 
are  on  the  edge  of  the  canal  with  their  feet  in  the  water, 
which  reflects  the  flowers  and  vases  and  shining  toys  in 
the  windows.  Almost  all  have  an  inscription  over  the 
door — a  sort  of  aphorism  of  domestic  felicity,  the  fo  mula 
of  its  master's  philosophy — such  as ;  "  Peace  is  money," 
'^  Repose  and  pleasure,"  ^'  Friendship  and  society,"  ^^  My 
desires  are  satisfied,"  "  Without  annoyance,"  ^'  Tranquil 
and  content,"  '^  Here  are  enjoyed  the  pleasures  of  horti- 
culture," &c. 

Here  and  there  a  handsome  black  and  white  cow  lay 
couched  on  the  grass,  her  muzzle  projected  over  the  water, 
turning  her  head  placidly  as  the  boat  glided  by.  We  met 
flocks  of  ducks  that  parted  to  let  us  go  by.  At  intervals 
on  our  right  and  left  opened  small  canals  whose  high 
green  hedges  sent  out  branches  that  met  overhead,  form- 
ing an  arch  of  verdure  under  which  we  could  see  peasants' 


THE  HAGUE.  129 

boats  vanishing  in  tlie  distance.  Here  and  tliere^  in  the 
midst  of  the  greenery^  started  forth  a  group  of  houses — a 
small  many-colored  village — with  mirrors  and  tulips  in 
the  windows;  without  a  living  soul;  but  the  profound 
silence  at  times  broken  by  a  lively  air  from  the  bells  of 
some  unseen  steeple.  It  was  a  pastoral  paradise,  an 
idyllic  landscape,  full  of  freshness  and  mystery ;  a  Chinese 
Arcadia,  with  small  surprises,  innocent  artifices  and 
prettinesses,  affecting  one  like  the  low  sound  of  voices  of 
invisible  people,  murmuring  ^^  We  are  content.''^ 

At  a  certain  point  the  canal  branched  off,  one  part  lead- 
ing to  Leyden,  while  the  other  continued  on  to  the  Hague. 
Beyond  this  point  the  treckschuyt  began  to  make  short 
halts,  now  at  a  house,  now  at  a  garden-gate,  to  receive 
packages,  letters,  and  messages  for  the  Hague. 

An  old  gentleman  came  aboard  from  one  of  the 
villas.  He  seated  himself  by  me;  and  we  fell  into  con- 
versation in  French.  He  had  been  in  Italy,  knew  a 
few  words  of  Italian,  had  read  the  "  Promessi  Sposi  ^' ; 
he  asked  me  for  some  particulars  of  the  death  of  Alles- 
sandro  Manzoni.  In  ten  minutes  I  adored  him.  From  him 
I  had  much  information  about  the  trecJcschuyten.  To 
understand  all  the  poesy  of  the  national  boat,  one  should 
make  a  long  voyage  in  company  with  the  native  people. 
Then  everyone  instals  himself  as  if  in  his  own  house,  the 
women  work,  the  men  sit  and  smoke  on  the  top ;  people 
become  intimate  and  form  one  family.  Night  falls;  and 
the  treckschuyt  glides  like  a  shadow  through  the  sleeping 
villages,  skimming  the  canal  in  the  silvery  moonlight, 
hiding  herself  in  the  dark  shadows,  emerging  into  the 


130  HOLLAND, 

open  country,  grazing  solitary  houses  in  which  shines  the 
peasant's  lamp,  and  meeting  fishermen's  barks  which  fleet 
by  like  phantoms.  In  that  profound  peace,  in  that  slow 
and  equal  motion,  the  voyagers  fall  asleep  side  by  side,  one 
after  the  other,  and  behind  the  boat  follow  the  confused 
murmur  of  the  water  and  the  sound  of  deep-drawn 
breathings. 

More  and  more  numerous  as  we  advanced  grew  the 
gardens  and  the  villas.  My  companion  pointed  out  a 
distant  steeple  and  named  the  village  of  Ryswijk,  where, 
in  1697,  the  famous  treaty  of  peace  was  signed  between 
England,  France,  Spain,  Germany,  and  Holland.  The 
castle  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  where  the  signers  met  is 
no  longer  in  existence,  and  an  obelisk  has  been  erected  on 
its  site.  Suddenl}?"  the  treckschuyt  came  out  from  among 
the  trees,  and  I  saw  a  vast  plain,  a  great  wood,  and  a  city 
crowned  with  towers  and  windmills.     It  was  the  Hague. 

The  boatmen  asked  and  received  my  passage-money  in 
a  leathern  bag.  The  horseman  touched  up  his  steed.  In 
a  few  minutes  we  arrived,  and  I  soon  found  myself  esta- 
blished in  a  brightly-shining  chamber  in  the  Hotel 
Turenne.  Who  knows  ?  perhaps  the  very  room  where 
the  great  marshal  slept  when  he  was  a  lad  and  in  the 
service  o£  Holland. 

The  Hague — in  Dutch,  s'Gravenhage,  or  s'Hage — the 
political  capital,  the  Washington  of  Holland,  Amsterdam 
being  the  New  York — is  a  city  half  Dutch  and  half 
French,  with  broad  streets  and  no  canals ;  vast  squares 
full  of  trees,  elegant  houses,  splendid  hotels,  and  a  popu- 
lation mostly  made  up  of  the  rich,  nobles,  officials,  artists. 


TEE  EAGUE,  131 

and  literati,  the  populace  being  of  a  more  refined  order 
than  that  of  the  other  Dutch  cities. 

In  my  first  turn  about  the  town  what  struck  me  most 
were  the  new  quarters,  where  dwells  the  flower  of  the 
wealthy  aristocracy.  In  no  other  city,  not  even  in  the 
Faubourg  St.  Germain  at  Paris,  did  1  feel  myself  such  a 
very  poor  devil,  as  in  those  streets.  They  are  wide  and 
straight,  flanked  by  palaces  of  elejrnnt  form  and  delicate 
color,  with  large  shutterless  windows,  through  which  can 
be  seen  the  rich  carpets  and  sumptuous  furniture  of  the 
first  floors.  Every  door  is  closed  ;  and  there  is  not  a  shop, 
nor  a  placard,  nor  a  stain,  nor  a  straw  to  be  seen  if  you 
were  to  look  for  it  with  a  hundred  eyes.  The  silence  was 
profound  when  I  passed  by.  Only  now  and  then  I  en- 
countered some  aristocratic  equipage  rolling  almost  noise- 
lessly over  the  brick  pavement,  or  the  stiff'est  of  lackeys 
stood  before  a  door,  or  the  blonde  head  of  a  lady  was  visible 
behind  a  curtain.  Passing  close  to  the  windows  and  be- 
holding my  shabby  travelling  dress  ruthlessly  reflected  in 
the  plate-glass,  I  experienced  a  certain  humiliation  at  not 
having  been  born  at  least  a  cavalier e^  and  imagined  I 
heard  low  voices  whispering  disdainfully :  '^Who  is  that 
low  person  ?  '■* 

Of  the  older  portion  of  the  city,  the  most  considerabl 
part  is  the  Binnenhof,  a  group  of  old  buildings  of  different 
styles  of  architecture,  which  looks  on  two  sides  upon  vast 
squares,  and  on  the  third  over  a  great  marsh.  In  the 
midst  of  this  group  of  palaces,  towers,  and  monumental 
doors,  of  a  mediaeval  and  sinister  aspect,  there  is  a  spa- 
cious court,  which  is  entered  by  three  bridges  and  three 


132  HOLLAND. 

gates.  In  one  of  these  buildings  resided  the  S tad th ciders, 
and  it  is  now  the  seat  of  the  Second  Chamber  of  the 
States  General ;  opposite  is  the  First  Chamber,  with  the 
ministries  and  various  other  offices  of  public  administra- 
tion. The  Minister  of  the  Interior  has  his  office  in  a 
little  low  black  tower  of  the  most  lugubrious  aspect,  that 
hangs  directly  over  the  waters  of  the  marsh. 

The  Binnenhof,  the  square  to  the  west,  called  the  Binten- 
liof,  and  another  square  beyond  the  marsh,  called  the  Plaats, 
into  which  you  enter  by  an  old  gate  that  once  formed  part 
of  a  prison,  were  the  theatres  of  the  most  sanguinary 
events  in  the  history  of  Holland. 

In  the  Binnenhof  was  decapitated  the  venerated  Van 
Olden  Barneveldt,  the  second  founder  of  the  republic,  the 
most  illustrious  victim  of  that  ever-recurrinsj  struggle 
between  the  burgher  aristocracy  and  the  Statholderate, 
between  the  republican  and  the  monarchical  principle, 
which  worked  so  miserably  in  Holland.  The  scaffold  was 
erected  in  front  of  the  edifice  where  the  States  General 
sat.  Opposite  is  the  tower  from  which  it  is  said  that 
Maurice  of  Orange,  himself  unseen,  beheld  the  last 
moments  of  his  enemy. 

In  the  prison  between  the  two  squares  Cornelisde  Witt, 
unjustly  accused  of  having  plotted  against  the  life  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  was  tortured.  In  the  Plaats,  Cornells 
and  the  grand  pensionary  John  de  Witt  were  dragged  by 
the  furious  populace,  and  there,  all  bloody  and  torn,  were 
spat  upon,  beaten,  and  at  last  killed  with  pike  and  pistol ; 
after  which  their  corpses  were  insulted  and  mutilated.  In 
the  same  Plaats,  Adelaide  de  Poelgest,  mistress  of  Albert, 


TEE  HAGUE.  133 

Count  of  Hollands  was  stabbed  to  death  on  tlie  22nd  of 
September  1392 ;  and  they  still  show  the  stone  where  she 
fell  and  breathed  her  last.  * 

These  dismal  memories,  these  low  and  massive  doors, 
these  disorderly  groups  of  gloomy  buildings,  which  at 
night,  when  the  moon  shines  on  the  waters  of  the  stag- 
nant pool,  present  the  aspect  of  an  enoi'mous  and  inac- 
cessible citadel,  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  gay  and 
pleasant  city,  awake  a  sentiment  of  solemnity  and  sadness. 

In  the  evening  the  court  is  lighted  by  only  a  few  dim 
lamps  j  the  few  passengers  hasten  their  steps  as  if  in  fear ; 
there  are  no  lighted  windows,  no  sounds  of  life  and  move- 
ment; you  enter  with  a  vague  feeling  of  anxiety,  and 
come  out  with  a  sense  of  relief. 

Excepting  these,  the  Hague  has  no  considerable  monu- 
ments either  modern  or  antique.  There  are  a  few  mediocre 
statues  of  different  Princes  of  Orange;  a  vast  and  bare 
cathedral,  and  a  modest  royal  palace.  On  many  of  the 
public  buildings  is  sculptured  the  image  of  a  stork,  which 
is  the  heraldic  crest  of  the  city.  Several  of  these  birds 
walk  about  at  liberty  in  the  fish-market,  maintained  at 
the  expense  of  the  municipality,  like  the  bears  of  Berne 
and  the  eagles  of  Geneva. 

The  finest  ornament  of  the  Hague  is  its  forest ;  a  true 
wonder  of  Holland,  and  one  of  the  most  magnificent  pro- 
menades in  the  world.  It  is  a  wood  of  alder-trees,  oaks, 
and  the  largest  beeches  that  are  to  be  found  in  Europe, 
on  the  eastern  side  of  the  city,  a  few  paces  from  the  last 
fringe  of  houses,  and  measuring  about  one  French  league 
in  circuit;  a  truly  delightful  oasis  in  the  midst  of  the 


134  HOLLAND, 

melanclioly  Dutch  plains.  As  you  enter  it,  little  Swiss 
chalets  and  kiosks,  scattered  here  and  there  among  the 
first  trees,  seem  to  have  strayed  and  lost  themselves  in 
an  endless  and  solitary  forest.  The  trees  are  as  thickly  set 
as  a  cane-l)rake,  and  the  alleys  vanish  in  dark  perspective. 

There  are  lakes  and  canals  almost  hidden  under  the 
verdure  of  their  banks ;  rustic  bridges,  deserted  paths,  dim 
recesses,  darkness  cool  and  deep,  in  which  one  breathes 
the  air  of  virgin  nature,  and  feels  oneself  far  from  the 
noises  of  the  world. 

This  wood,  like  that  of  Harlem,  is  said  to  be  the 
remains  of  an  immense  forest  that  covered,  in  ancient 
times,  almost  all  the  coast,  and  is  respected  by  the  Dutch 
people  as  a  monument  of  their  national  history.  Indeed, 
in  the  history  of  Holland  may  be  found  numerous  refe- 
rences to  it,  proving  that  there  has  always  been  a  jealous 
care  for  its  preservation.  Even  the  Spanish  generals 
respected  the  national  feeling,  and  preserved  the  sacred 
wood  from  the  soldiery.  On  more  than  one  occasion  of 
grave  financial  distress,  w^hen  the  government  showed  a 
disposition  to  decree  its  destruction  in  order  to  sell  the 
timber,  the  citizens  saved  it  by  voluntary  subsidies.  A 
thousand  memories  are  bound  np  in  this  delicious  grove; 
recollections  of  frightful  hiiriicanes,  of  princely  loves ; 
celebrated  festivals,  and  romantic  adventures.  Some  of 
the  trees  bear  the  names  of  kings  or  emperors,  others  of 
the  German  Electors;  a  beech  has  the  fame  of  having 
])een  planted  by  the  Grand  Pensionary  and  poet,  Jacob 
Katz ;  other  three,  by  the  Countess  of  Holland,  Jacque- 
line of  Bavaria ;  and  the  spot  where  she  used  to  repose  is 


TEE  HAGUE,  135 

still  pointed  out.  Even  M.  de  Voltaire  'has  left  his  re- 
cord in  the  legend  of  some  gallant  adventure  with  the 
daughter  of  a  barber. 

In  the  very  heart  of  the  wood^  where  the  smaller  vege- 
tation seems  seized  with  a  sort  of  fury  of  conquest,  climb- 
ing the  trees,  weaving  bowers  overhead_,  and  stretching 
its  tendrils  over  .  the  water,  as  if  it  would  draw  a  verdant 
veil  over  the  abode  of  some  sylvan  divinity,  is  hidden  a 
roya]  palazzetto  called  the  "  Forest  House/'  built  in  1647 
by  the  Princess  Amelia  de  Solens,  in  honor  of  her  hus- 
band the  Stadtholder  Frederick  Henry. 

When  I  went  to  visit  this  palace,  whilst  seeking  for 
the  entrance  gate,  I  saw  a  lady  of  a  noble  and  benevolent 
presence  come  out  and  get  into  her  carriage,  whom  I  took 
for  an  English  traveller,  sight-seeing  like  myself.  I  raised 
my  hat  as  the  carriage  passed,  and  received  a  bow  in 
return.  A  moment  after  I  learned  from  the  housekeeper 
who  showed  the  place  that  my  English  traveller  was  no 
other  than  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  of  Holland. 

In  the  Forest  House  there  is,  among  other  notable 
things,  an  octagon  hall,  covered  from  floor  to  ceiling  with 
pictures  by  the  most  celebrated  artists  of  the  Rubens 
school,  among  them  an  enormous  allegorical  work  by 
Jordoens,  representing  the  apotheosis  of  Frederick  Henry. 
There  is  a  room  full  of  precious  presents  from  the  Em- 
peror of  Japan,  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt,  and  the  East  India 
Company  ;  and  an  elegant  little  room  decorated  in  chiar- 
oscuro in  admirable  imitation  of  bas-reliefs,  by  Jacob  de 
Witt,  a  painter  who  acquired  renown  in  the  beginning  of 
the  last  century.     The  other  rooms  are  small,  pretty  but 


136  HOLLAND. 

witliout  pretension,  and  full  of  treasures  tliat  do  not  nialie 
much  show,  as  befits  the  great  and  modest  house  of  Orange. 

It  seemed  to  me  singular  to  allow  the  entrance  of 
strangers  into  the  palace  so  immediately  upon  the  exit 
of  the  queen ;  but  it  astonished  me  no  longer  when  I 
became  acquainted  with  other  customs  and  popular  traits, 
the  characters,  in  short,  of  the  royal  family  of  Holland. 

The  Ivkig  is  considered  rather  as  stadtholder  than  king. 
There  is  in  him,  as  was  said  of  the  Duke  d^Aosta^  by 
some  Sj3anish  republican,  "the  least  quantity  of  king 
possible.''''  The  sentiment  which  the  Dutch  people  nourish 
towards  the  royal  family  is  not  so  much  devotion  towards 
the  monarch  as  affection  for  that  house  of  Orange  which 
participated  in  all  its  triumphs,  as  in  all  its  misfortunes, 
and  lived,  it  may  be  said,  in  the  life  of  the  nation  for 
the  space  of  three  centuries.  The  nation,  at  bottom,  is 
republican,  and  its  monarchy  is  a  sort  of  crowned  presi- 
dency, without  royal  state.  The  king  makes  speeches  at 
banquets  and  public  festivals  as  our  ministers  do;  and 
he  enjoys  the  fame  of  an  orator,  because  he  speaks  ex- 
tempore, with  a  powerful  voice  and  a  certain  soldierly 
eloquence  that  excites  immense  enthusiasm  among  the 
people.  The  hereditary  prince,  William  of  Orange, 
studied  at  the  University  of  Leyden,  passed  a  public  exa- 
mination^ and  took  the  laureate  of  advocate.  Prince 
Alexander,  the  second  son,  is  now  a  student  in  the  same 
university,   and    a   member  of    a    students'  club,  where 


*  The  second  son  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  who  filled  the  Spanish  thx'one 
for  a  few  months. 


THE  HAGUE.  137 

Le  invites  his  professors  and  fellow -students  to  dinner. 
At  the  Hag'ue^  Prince  William  enters  the  cafes,  talks  with 
his  neighbors,  and  goes  about  with  his  young  men  friends. 
In  the  forest  the  queen  often  sits  down  on  the  same 
bench  with  some  poor  woman.  And  it  cannot  be  said 
that  these  things  are  done  to  gain  popularity,  for  the 
family  of  Orange  can  neither  gain  nor  lose  it,  there  not 
being  among  the  people,  who  are  by  nature  and  tradition 
republicans,  a  grain  of  the  spirit  of  faction.  On  the  con- 
trary, this  people,  who  love  and  venerate  their  king,  and  on 
holidays  insist  that  everybody  shall  wear  an  orange  cockade 
in  homage  to  his  family  name,  in  general  never  trouble 
themselves  about  him  or  his  doings.  At  the  Hague  I 
had  some  difficulty  in  getting  information  as  to  the  rank 
the  Prince  of  Orange  holds  in  the  army ;  nobody  seemed 
to  know  or  care.  • 

The  seat  of  the  court  is  at  the  Hague ;  but  the  king 
passes  a  great  part  of  the  summer  at  his  castle  in  Guel- 
dres,  and  goes  once  every  year  to  Amsterdam.  The  people 
say  that  there  is  a  statute  which  obliges  the  king  to  pass 
ten  days  in  every  year  at  Amsterdam,  and  for  those  ten 
days  the  municipality  is  obliged  to  pay  his  expenses  j  but 
when  the  clocks  strike  the  hour  of  noon  on  the  eleventh 
day,  his  majesty  lights  a  match  for  his  cigar,  and  this  is 
at  his  own  charge. 

Returning  from  the  royal  villa  to  the  city,  the  day 
being  Sunday,  I  found  the  forest  all  animation ;  music, 
carriages,  a  crowd  of  ladies  and  children,  and  the  cafes 
open  everywhere.  Then  for  the  first  time  I  had  an 
opportunity  for  observing  the  fair  sex  in  Holland, 


138  HOLLAND. 

Beauty  is  a  rare  flower  here  as  everywhere ;  but  in  one 
turn  about  the  wood  of  the  Hague,  I  saw  more  pretty 
women  than  I  had  seen  in  all  the  picture  galleries  in 
Holland.  There  is  not  among  these  ladies  either  the 
sculpturesque  beauty  of  the  Roman,  nor  the  brilliant  com- 
plexion of  the  Englishwoman,  nor  the  vivacity  of  expres- 
sion of  the  Andalusian  ;  but  there  is  a  fineness  of  feature, 
an  innocent,  tranquil  grace  and  prettiness,  which 
is  very  pleasing.  They  are  rather  tall  than  short,  and 
plump ;  their  features  are  irregular,  their  skin  smooth  and 
of  a  clear  red  and  white ;  their  cheek-bones  rather  pro- 
minent ;  clear  blue  eyes,  sometimes  so  light  in  color  as  to 
appear  glassy,  and  without  expression.  It  is  said  that 
they  have  bad  teeth,  but  of  that  I  cannot  speak,  for  they 
smile  seldom.  They  walk  less  lightly  than  the  French, 
and  less  stiffly  than  the  English;  wear  dresses  from  Paris, 
better  chosen  than  at  Amsterdam ;  and  display  with  par- 
donable vanity  their  wealth  of  blonde  hair. 

It  looked  odd  to  see  great  girls,  who  with  us  would 
have  the  dress  and  airs  of  women,  still  in  short  dresses 
and  regarded  as  children.  But  here  a  young  girl  is 
seldom  married  before  twenty  years  of  age.  In  Holland 
the  natives  of  more  southern  lands  who  marry  at  fifteen, 
are  regarded  as  most  surprising  creatures.  Here  girls  of 
that  age  are  going  to  school,  with  their  hair  flowing  or 
braided  down  their  backs,  and  nobody  dreams  of  looking 
at  them. 

Here  I  may  remark  that  that  equivocal  society  known 
in  Paris  under  the  name  of  the  demi-monde  does  not,  to  all 
appearance,  have  any  existence  here.     *'  Take  care,'^  said 


THE  HAGUE.  139 

certain  DntcTi  free-thinkers  to  me,  ''this  is  a  Protestant 
country,  and  there  is  a  great  deal  of  hypocrisy/''  It  may 
be  so,  but  that  cannot  be  a  very  marked  feature  of  society 
which  can  be  so  easily  hidden.  There  is  not  a  shadow 
of  it  in  public,  nor  an  idea  of  it  in  their  literature ;  the 
language  itself  is  rebellious  against  the  translation  of  the 
infinite  forms  of  expression  which  belong  to  that  society 
in  the  countries  where  it  exists.  And  again,  parents  do 
not  shut  their  eyes  to  the  conduct  of  their  sons,  even  after 
they  are  come  to  man^s  estate ;  family  discipline  makes  no 
exceptions  even  for  the  bearded  ones ;  and  this  discipline 
is  aided  and  abetted  by  a  cold  temperamentj  the  habit  of 
economy,  and  respect  for  public  opinion. 

To  presume  to  speak  authoritatively  of  the  character  and 
life  of  the  women  of  Holland,  after  having  passed  a  few 
months  in  their  country,  would  be  not  only  ridiculous, 
but  impertinent;  I  shall  therefore  content  myself  with 
quoting  from  books  and  the  opinions  of  friends. 

]\Iany  writers  have  spoken  discourteously  of  the  Dutch 
women.  One  calls  them  childish  puppets;  another  apa- 
thetic housewives ;  an  anonymous  writer  of  the  last  century 
pushes  impertinence  so  far  as  to  say  that,  as  men  in  Hol- 
land generally  prefer  to  choose  their  mistresses  am.ong 
the  servant-maids,  so  the  women  (that  is  the  ladies)  do 
not  look  higher  in  their  aspirations.  But  this  is  probably 
the  judgment  of  some  disappointed  suitor.  "  Daniel 
Stern/^  who,  as  a  woman,  has  peculiar  authority  in  the 
matter,  says  that  they  are  proud,  loyal,  active,  and 
chaste.  Someone  emits  a  doubt  as  to  the  pretended 
placidity  of  their  affections.   "They  are  still  waters/-'  says 


140  HOLLAND. 


f9 


EsquiroZ;  "  and  we  know  what  is  said  of  still  waters. 
"They  are  frozen  volcanoes/''  says  Heine^  "and  when 
they  thaw-— — '^  But  of  all  that  has  been  written^  the 
words  of  Saint  Evremont  seem  to  me  the  most  noticeable: 
"  that  the  Dutch  women  are  not  sufficiently  vivacious  to 
trouble  any  man's  repose ;  that  there  are  some  among 
them  who  are  pleasing ;  yes,  but  either  their  wisdom  or 
their  coldnesL  stands  them  instead  of  virtue/' 

One  day  in  a  company  of  young  men,  a  certain  rather 
ridiculous  personage  being  under  discussion,  Tasked  in  the 
sacramental  phrase,  "  Does  he  disturb  the  repose  of  fami- 
lies ?''  "  Che  I"  was  the  reply,  '^to  disturb  the  repose  of 
families  in  Holland  would  be  to  undertake  one  of  the  twelve 
labors  of  Hercules/^  "The  Datch  woman/'  said  another, 
^^docs  not  marry  a  husband,  she  espouses  matrimony." 

It  may  be  thought  that  T  wish  to  have  it  understood 
that  I  know  the  Dutch  language.  I  hasten  to  say  that  I 
do  not  know  it,  and  to  excuse  my  ignorance.  A  people 
like  the  Dutch,  grave  and  taciturn,  richer  in  hidden 
qualities  than  in  those  that  shine  on  the  surface,  who 
live  more  within  than  without,  who  act  more  than  they 
speak,  and  are  worth  more  than  they  spend,  can  be 
studied  without  knowing  their  language.  Also,  in  Hol- 
land, French  is  almost  universally  known.  In  the  great 
cities  there  is  no  person  of  culture  who  does  not  speak 
French  fluently ;  there  is  not  a  shopkeeper  who  cannot 
express  himself  more  or  less  easily  in  that  tongue;  there 
is  scarcely  a  lad,  even  among  the  lower  orders  of  the 
people,  who  does  not  know  ten  or  twenty  words  of  it, 
enough  to  help  a  stranger  out  of  a  difficulty.     This  diffu- 


THE  HAGUE.  141 

8ion  of  a  language  so  different  from  their  own,  is  the  more 
to  be  admired  wlien  we  know  that  it  is  not  the  only 
foreign  tongue  that  is  spoken  in  Holland^  English  and 
German  are  almost  equally  well  known.  The  study  of 
all  three  of  these  languages  is  obligatory  in  the  middle- 
class  schools.  The  Dutch  have  a  peculiar  facility  for 
languages,  and  an  extraordinary  frankness  in  conversation. 

We  Italians,  before  attempting  to  speak  a  foreign  lan- 
guage, must  know  enough  of  it  not  to  make  gross  mistakes 
we  blush  when  they  escape  us ;  we  remain  silent  rather 
than  converse  unless  we  are  sure  of  being  complimented ; 
and  so  we  prolong  for  ever  the  period  of  our  philological 
noviciate.  In  Holland  there  are  quantities  of  people  who 
speak  French  with  a  capital  of  a  hundred  words  or  so, 
and  twenty  phrases ;  but  they  talk  and  keep  up  a  conver- 
sation without  showing  the  least  anxiety  as  to  what  you 
may  think  of  their  mistakes  and  their  audacity.  Porters, 
servants,  lads,  questioned  as  to  their  knowledge  of  French, 
answer  with  perfect  security,  " Oid,^'  or  "  Un pen''  and 
have  a  hundred  ways  of  making  themselves  understood, 
the  first  to  laugh  at  their  own  linguistic  contortions,  and 
rounding  out  every  sentence  with  a  "  S^il  vous  plait, ^'  or  a 
" Pardon,  Monsieur''  often  so  drolly  out  of  place  that  it 
is  impossible  not  to  laugh. 

As  for  the  Dutch  language,  for  those  who  do  not  know 
German  it  is  impenetrable;  and  even  knowing  German, 
vou  may  understand  a  little  in  reading  it,  but  to  hear  it 
spoken  it  is  utterly  dark.  If  I  might  describe  its  eflfect 
upon  the  ear  of  a  foreigner,  it  sounds  like  German  spoken 
by  a  man  with  a  hair  in  his  throaty  which  is  due  to  the 


142  HOLLAND. 

frequency  of  a  guttural  aspirate,  sometliing  like  the 
Spanish 7o/«.  The  Dutch  themselves  do  not  think  their 
language  harmonious,  and  will  often  ask  a  foreigner  what 
he  thinks  of  it,  with  an  air  expecting  an  unfavorable 
reply.  And  yet  a  book  was  once  written  to  demonstrate 
that  Adam  and  Eve  spoke  Dutch  in  the  terrestrial  para- 
dise. But  although  they  are  so  accomplished  in  other 
tongues,  the  Hollanders  hold  fast  to  their  own,  and  are 
very  indignant  when  a  stranger,  as  not  unfrequently 
happens,  betrays  his  belief  that  it  is  a  German  dialect. 

It  is  almost  superfluous  to  recall  the  history  of  the  lan- 
guage. The  first  settlers  of  the  country  spoke  the  Teu- 
tonic dialects.  These  were  fused  together  and  formed 
the  ancient  Netherlandish  tongue,  which,  like  the  other 
languages  of  Europe  in  the  middle  ages,  passed  through 
the  different  German,  Norman,  French  phases,  and  came 
out  in  its  present  form,  the  primitive  idoms  still  re- 
maining in  the  foundation,  with  some  influences  of 
Latin. 

Certainly  there  is  a  great  resemblance  between  the 
Dutch  and  German  tongues,  and  particularly  there  are  a 
number  of  radicals  in  common ;  but  the  syntax  is  diffe- 
rent, being  much  more  simple  in  Dutch.  The  pronuncia- 
tion also  differs.  And  because  of  this  very  resemblance, 
the  Hollanders  speak  both  French  and  English  better  than 
German. 

But  it  is  time  to  go  to  the  picture  gallery,  the  finest 
jewel  of  the  Hague. 

Immediately  upon  entering,  the  visitor  finds  himself  in 
front  of   the  most   celebrated  of  painted    beasts :    Paul 


TEE  HAGUE.  UB 

Potter's  ^^  Bull  ^^ ;  that  immortal  bull  which,  as  we  have 
said,  at  the  time  when  there  was  a  mania  for  classifying 
pictures  in  a  sort  of  hierarchy  of  celebrity,  hung  in  the 
gallery  of  the  Louvre  side  by  side  with  the  "  Transfigura- 
tion '^  of  Raphael,  the  "  St.  Peter,  Martyr  '^  of  Titian,  and 
the  *^  Communion  of  St,  Jerome''^  of  Domenichino;  that 
bull  for  which  England  would  give  a  million  of  francs,  and 
Holland  would  not  part  with  for  double  that  sum ;  that 
bull,  in  short,  about  which  there  have  certainly  been  more 
pages  written  than  the  painter  gave  strokes  of  the  brush, 
and  which  is  still  discussed  and  written  about,  as  if  instead 
of  an  image  it  was  a  new  creation  of  some  animal  not 
heretofore  existent. 

The  subject  of  the  picture  is  of  the  simplest :  a  bull 
life  size,  standing,  with  its  muzzle  turned  towards  the 
spectator,  a  cow  lying  down,  a  few  sheep,  a  shepherd,  and 
a  distant  landscape. 

The  supreme  merit  of  this  bull  can  be  given  in  one 
word :  he  is  alive.  The  grave,  astonished  eye,  expressing 
such  a  vigorous  vitality  and  such  a  savage  fierceness,  is 
rendered  with  a  fidelity  that  at  the  first  aspect  makes  one 
inclined  to  move  out  of  his  path,  as  in  a  country  road 
meeting  the  real  creature.  The  moist  black  nostril  seems 
to  smoke  and  absorb  the  air  with  a  deep  inspiration. 
The  hide  is  painted  with  all  its  wrinkles  and  the  traces 
of  rubbings  against  trees  and  earth,  so  that  it  looks 
like  reality.  The  other  animals  are  not  inferior :  the 
head  of  the  cow,  the  wool  of  the  sheep,  the  flies,  the 
grass,  the  leaves  and  fibres  of  the  plants,  all  are  ren- 
dered with  prodigious  truth  to  nature.     And  whilst  you 


144  HOLLAND. 

appreciate  tlie  infinite  care  and  stii'ly  of  the  artist^  you 
see  no  marks  of  fatigue  or  patient  labor;  it  seems  a 
work  of  inspiration^,  in  wliicli  the  painter,  influenced 
with  a  sort  of  fury,  has  not  had  an  instant  of  hesita- 
tion or  discouragement.  Many  censures  were  passed 
upon  this  "incredible  piece  of  audacity  in  a  youth  of 
twenty-four/'  They  blamed  its  great  size,  and  the 
vulgar  nature  of  the  subject ;  the  absence  of  luminous 
effects,  the  light  being  everywhere  equal  and  without 
contrast  of  black  shadows;  the  rigidity  of  the  bull's 
legs ;  the  dry  coloring  of  the  plants  and  more  distant 
animals;  the  mediocrity  of  the  figure  of  the  shepherd. 
But  in  spite  of  it  all,  Paul  Potter's  bull  remains  crowned 
with  the  glory  of  an  acknowledged  chef  d'ceuvre,  and 
Europe  considers  it  as  the  most  majestic  work  of  the 
prince  of  animal  painters.  "With  his  buU/^  says  justly 
an  illustrious  critic,  "  Paul  Potter  has  written  the  true 
idvl  of  Holland." 

This  is  the  great  merit  of  the  Dutch  animal  painters, 
and  of  Potter  above  all.  He  has  not  only  represented 
the  animals,  but  has  made  visible,  and  celebrated  in  the 
poetry  of  color,  the  delicate,  almost  maternal  affection 
which  is  felt  for  them  by  the  Dutch  agriculturist.  He  has 
made  use  of  the  animals  in  order  to  reveal  the  poetic  side 
of  rustic  life.  With  them  he  has  expressed  the  peaceful 
silence  of  the  fields,  the  pleasure  of  solitude,  the  sweetness 
of  repose,  and  the  satisfaction  of  tranquil  labor.  One 
would  say  that  he  had  succeeded  in  being  understood  by 
them,  and  that  they  had  taken  certain  attitudes  on  purpose 
for  him  to  copy.     He  has  known  how  to  give  them  all  the 


THE  HAGUE.  145 

variety  and  attraction  of  personages.  Gravity,  tlie  quiet 
contentment  that  follows  the  satisfaction  of  some  need, 
the  sentiments  of  health  and  strength,  love  and  gratitude 
to  man,  all  the  flashes  of  intelligence  and  all  the  varieties 
of  character — he  has  caught  them  all,  and  fixed  them  with 
loving  fidelity  on  his  canvas,  causing  the  spectator  to 
feel  the  sentiment  that  moved  him.  Paul  Potter  is  the 
greatest  of  animal  painters.  Berghem  is  more  refined, 
but  not  so  natural ;  Van  de  Velde  has  more  grace,  but  less 
energy;  Du  Jardin  is  more  amiable,  but  wanting  in  depth. 

And  to  think  that  the  architect,  his  father-in-law, 
•would  not  at  first  grant  him  his  daughter's  hand,  because 
he  was  a  ^*  painter  of  beasts "  !  and  that,  if  we  are  to 
believe  the  tradition,  his  famous  bull  was  painted  for  a 
butcher's  sign,  and  sold  for  twelve  hundred  francs ! 

Another  chef  d'ceuvre  of  the  gallery  of  the  Hague  is  a 
small  picture  by  Gerard  Dow,  the  painter  of  the  cele- 
brated ^^ Dropsical  Woman''  in  the  Louvre,  and  which 
hangs  between  the  Raphaels  and  the  Murillos.  The  pic- 
ture represents  merely  a  woman  seated  near  a  window, 
with  a  cradle  beside  her;  but  in  this  simplest  of  all  scenes 
there  is  such  a  sweet  and  holy  atmosphere  of  domestic 
peace,  a  repose  so  deep,  a  harmony  so  perfect,  that  the 
most  obstinate  of  earthly  bachelors  could  not  fix  his  eyes 
upon  it  long  without  an  irresistible  desire  to  be  that  one 
who  is  evidently  expected  in  the  quiet  room,  or  at  least  to 
enter  it  a  moment,  even  with  the  condition  of  remaining 
hidden  in  a  dark  corner,  in  order  to  breathe  a  breath  of 
that  perfume  of  innocent  and  secret  felicity.  This,  like 
all  Dow's  works,  is  painted  with  that  extraordinary  minute- 


146  HOLLAND. 

ness  wliicli  almost  reaches  an  excess,  wLicli  does  reacli  it 
in  Slingelandt,  who  took  three  years  of  constant  labor 
to  paint  the  Meerman  family;  a  manner  which,  still  later, 
degenerated  into  that  smooth  and  labored  style,  where  the 
figures  were  ivory,  the  skies  enamel,  and  the  fields  velvet, 
and  of  which  the  painter  Van  der  Werff  was  the  most 
renowned  master.  Among  other  objects  in  this  picture 
of  Dow's,  there  is  a  broom-handle,  about  as  large  as  a 
pen,  upon  which  it  is  said  the  artist  worked  assiduously 
for  three  days ;  a  thing  that  does  not  astonish  you  when 
you  see  that  all  the  minutest  veins,  knots,  stains,  and  fila- 
ments are  minutely  represented.  Almost  incredible  things 
are  related  of  his  superhuman  patience.  It  is  said  that 
he  occupied  five  days  in  copying  the  hand  of  a  certain 
Madame  Spirings  whose  portrait  he  was  painting :  who 
knows  how  much  time  he  spent  upon  the  head !  Those 
sitters  who  were  so  ill -judging  as  to  come  to  him,  were 
reduced  to  desperation.  It  is  related  of  him  that  he 
ground  his  own  colors,  made  his  O'wn  brushes,  and  kept 
everything  hermetically  closed  that  no  grain  of  dust  might 
reach  it.  When  he  entered  his  studio  he  opened  the  door 
very  carefully,  sat  down  quietly,  and  waited  until  every 
bit  of  agitation  produced  by  motion  was  calmed  down. 
In  painting  he  made  use  of  concave  glasses  to  diminish 
objects  j  which  ended  by  weakening  his  sight  so  that  he 
was  obliged  to  paint  with  a  lens.  Notwithstanding  all  this, 
however,  his  coloring  never  grew  weak  or  cold,  and  his 
pictures  are  as  vigorous  seen  from  a  distance  as  near  by. 
They  are,  with  justice,  likened  to  natural  scenes  dimi- 
nished in  a  camera  obscura,     Dow  was  one  of  the  many 


THE  HAGUE.  147 

disciples  of  E/erabrandt  who  divided  among  them  the 
inheritance  of  his  genius.  He  had  from  him  his  finish, 
and  the  art  of  imitating  light_,  especially  that  of  candles 
and  lamps,  in  which  he  rose  to  the  height  of  his  master. 
Among  the  painters  of  his  time  he  was  peculiar  in  having 
no  pleasure  in  ngl}^  or  trivial  subjects. 

Van  Ostade- — called  the  Ilembrandt  of  familiar  subjects, 
because  he  imitated  the  great  master^s  cliiaroscura^  his 
simmature,  or  delicate  blending  of  colors,  the  transparency 
of  his  shadows,  and  the  richness  of  his  coloring — has  two 
small  pictures  here,  representing  the  interior  and  the  ex- 
terior of  a  rustic  house,  with  figures;  both  full  of  poetry, 
in  spite  of  the  vulgarity  of  the  subjects,  which  he  shares 
in  common  with  the  other  painters  of  his  school.  But  he 
has  this  peculiarity  :  that  the  remarkably  ugly  young 
women  in  his  pictures  are  portraits  of  his  own  family, 
who,  it  is  said,  formed  a  group  of  little  monstrosities  whom 
he  has  thus  pilloried  before  the  world.  So  have  almost 
all  the  Dutch  painters  chosen  to  paint  the  least  handsome 
of  the  women  who  fell  under  their  notice,  as  if  they  had 
all  agreed  to  discredit  the  feminine  type  of  their  own 
country.  The  ^'^  Susanna ''^  of  Rembrandt,  to  instance  a 
subject  that  absolutely  demands  beauty,  is  always  an  ugly 
Dutch  servant- wench ;  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  allude  to 
the  women  of  Steen,  Brouwer,  and  others.  And  yet  their 
country  was  not  wanting  in  models  of  noble  and  graceful 
beauty. 

Francis  van  Mieris  the  elder,  the  first  of  Gerard  Dow's 
disciples,  and,  like  him,  minute  and  faithful,  has  three 
fine  pictures,  one  of  which  represents  the  artist  and  his 


143  HOLLAND. 

wife.  Of  Steen  there  is_,  among  others,  one  of  his  favo- 
rite subject — a  physician  feeling  the  pulse  of  a  young  gir] 
sick  for  love^  with  an  older  woman  standing  by;  an  ad- 
mirable play  of  mischievous  and  cunning  looks  and.  smiles 
which,  in  the  physician,  say,  ^^I  think  I  understand/^ 
in  the  girl,  "  I  want  another  medicine  than  yours/'  and 
in  the  governess,  '*  I  know  well  enough  what  she  wants/^ 

In  the  way  of  landscapes  and  marine  views  there  are 
the  finest  gems  of  Ruysdael,  Berghem,  Van  de  Velde, 
Van  du  Neer,  Buckhuysen,  Everdingen,  beside  a  good 
number  of  pictures  by  Philip  Wonvermaan,  the  horse 
and  battle  painter.  There  are  two  by  Van  Huysum,  the 
great  flower  painter ;  he  who,  born  in  a  time  when  Hol- 
land was  seized  by  a  sort  of  mad  love  for  flowers,  and 
possessed  the  finest  in  Europe,  celebrated  the  madness 
with  his  pencil,  and  made  it  live  for  ever.  No  one  has  so 
marvellously  rendered  the  infinite  secrets  of  the  loveliness 
of  flowers,  those  pearls  of  vegetation  and  chromes  of  loving 
nature.  The  Hollanders  carried  the  w^ondcrs  of  their 
gardens  to  him  tliat  he  might  copy  them  ;  all  the  kings 
of  Europe  wanted  his  pictures,  and  the  sums  he  received 
were,  for  that  time,  very  large.  He  was  jealons  of  his 
wife,  and  of  his  art,  and  worked  alone,  invisible  even  to 
his  own  brothers,  that  they  might  not  discover  the  secrets 
of  his  coloring ;  and  so  he  lived  and  died,  glorious  and 
melancholy  in  the  midst  of  petals  and  perfumes. 

But  the  greatest  picture  in  the  gallery  is  the  celebrated 
''  Lesson  in  Anatomy,''  by  llembrandt. 

This  picture  wg.s  inspired  by  a  sentiment  of  gratitude 
towards   the   physician   Tulp,   prcfessor    of    anatomy    at 


THIS  HAGUE.  149 

Amsterdam,  who  had  protected  Rembrandt  in  his  youth. 
Dr.  Tulp  is  represented,  with  his  disciples,  grouped  about 
a  table  on  which  is  stretched  a  naked  corpse,  with  one 
arm  opened  by  the  anatomic  knife.  The  professor,  with 
his  hat  on  his  head,  and  standing,  points  out  to  the 
students  with  his  forceps  the  muscles  of  the  body.  O: 
the  other  figures,  some  are  seated,  some  standing,  some 
bending  over  the  corpse.  The  light,  striking  from  left 
to  right,  illuminates  the  faces  and  one  side  of  the  dead 
body,  leaving  in  obscurity  the  dresses,  the  table,  and  the 
walls  of  the  room.     The  figures  are  life  size. 

It  is  difficult  to  express  the  efPect  produced  by  this 
picture.  The  first  feeling  is  that  of  horror  and  repulsion 
from  the  corpse.  The  forehead  is  in  shadow,  the  eyes 
open  with  the  pupils  turned  upwards,  the  mouth  half-open 
as  if  in  astonishment,  the  chest  sunken,  the  legs  and  feet 
stiff,  the  flesh  livid,  and  looking  as  if,  should  you  touch 
it  with  your  hand,  it  would  feel  cold.  With  this  rigid 
body  a  powerful  contrast  is  produced  by  the  vivacious  at- 
titudes, the  youthful  faces,  the  bright,  attentive  eyes,  full 
of' thought,  of  the  disciples,  revealing  in  different  degrees 
tlie  avidity  for  knowledge,  the  joy  of  learning,  curiosity, 
wonder,  the  strength  of  intelligence,  the  suspense  of  the 
mind.  The  master  has  the  tranquil  face,  the  serene  eye, 
and  the  almost  smiling  lip  of  one  who  feels  the  com- 
placency of  knowledge.  There  is  in  the  complexion  of 
the  group  an  air  of  mystery,  gravity,  and  scientific  solem- 
nity which  inspires  reverence  and  silence.  The  contrast 
between  the  light  and  shadow  is  as  marvellous  as  that 
between  life  and  death.     It  is  all  done  with  extraordinary 


150  HOLLAND. 

finish ;  one  can  count  the  folds  of  the  ruffs^  the  lines  o£  the 
faces,  the  hair  of  the  beards.  It  is  said  that  the  fore- 
shortening of  the  corpse  is  wrong,  and  that  in  some  points 
the  finish  runs  into  dryness;  but  universal  judgment 
places  the  "Lesson  in  Anatomy '*  among  the  greatest 
triumphs  of  human  genius. 

Rembrandt  was  only  twenty-six  years  old  when  he 
painted  this  picture,  w^iich,  therefore,  belongs  to  his  first 
manner,  in  which  there  are  not  yet  apparent  that  fire 
and  audacity,  that  sovereign  security  in  his  own  genius, 
which  shine  in  the  works  of  his  maturer  years ;  but  there 
is  already  that  luminous  potency,  that  marvellous  chiar- 
oscurOj  that  magic  of  contrasts,  which  form  the  most 
original  trait  of  his  genius. 

However  one  may  be  profane  in  art,  and  have  made  a 
vow  never  more  to  offend  in  too  much  enthusiasm,  when 
one  is  in  the  presence  of  Rembrandt  van  Rhijn,  one  can  but 
raise  a  little,  as  the  Spaniards  say,  the  key  of  one^s  style. 
Rembrandt  exercised  a  particular  prestige.  Fra  Angelico 
is  a  saint,  Michael  Angelo  a  giant,  Raphael  an  angel, 
Titian  a  prince ;  Rembrandt  is  a  supernatural  being. 
How  otherwise  shall  we  name  that  son  of  a  miller?  Born 
in  a  windmill,  rising  unheralded,  without  master,  without 
examples,  without  any  derivation  from  schools,  he  be- 
came a  universal  painter,  embraced  all  the  aspects  of  life 
painted  figures,  landscapes,  marine  views,  animals,  saints 
in  paradise,  patriarchs,  heroes,  monks,  wealth  and  misery, 
deformity  and  decrejjitude,  the  ghetto,  the  tavern,  the 
hospital,  death;  made,  in  short,  a  review  of  heaven  and 
earthj  and  rendered  all  things  visible  by  a  light  from  the 


THE  EAGUR  151 

arcana  of  his  own  imagination.  He  is,  at  the  same  time, 
grand  and  minute,  idealist  and  realist,  painter  and  en- 
graver; transfiguring  everything  and  dissimulating  nothing; 
changing  men  into  phantoms,  the  most  vulgar  natural 
scenes  into  mysterious  apparitions ;  this  world,  I.  may  say, 
into  another  world,  which  seems  no  more  this  world  and 
yet  is  so  still.  Where  did  he  find  that  indefinable  light, 
those  shafts  of  electric  rays,  those  reflections  of  unknown 
stars,  making  one  muse  as  over  an  enigma  ?  What  did 
he  see  m  the  darkness,  dreamer,  visionary  that  he  was  ? 
What  was  the  arcanum  that  his  genius  yearned  for?  What 
was  he  saying  with  his  eternal  conflict  of  light  and  shadow, 
this  painter  of  the  air  ? 

It  was  said  that  the  contrast  of  light  and  shadow  cor- 
responded in  him  to  diverse  movements  of  thought. 
Schiller  before  beginning  a  work,  heard  within  himself  a 
harmony  of  indistinct  sounds^  which  were  like  a  prelude 
to  inspiration;  in  like  manner  Rembrandt,  when  in  the 
act  of  conceiving  a  picture,  had  a  vision  of  rays  and 
shadows,  which  spoke  to  his  soul  before  he  animated  them 
with  his  personages.  There  is  in  his  pictures  a  life,  and 
what  may  almost  be  called  a  dramatic  action,  quite  apart 
from  the  human  figures.  Vivid  rays  of  light  break  into 
the  darkness  like  cries  of  joy;  the  darkness  flies  m  terror, 
leaving  here  and  there  fragments  of  shadow  full  of  melan- 
choly, tremulous  reflections  that  seem  like  lamentations ; 
profound  obscurity  full  of  dim  threatenings;  spurts  of 
light,  sparkles,  ambiguous  shadows,  doubtful  transpa- 
rencies, questionings,  sighs,  words  of  a  supernatural 
language,  heard  like  music  and  not  understood,  and  re- 


152  HOLLAND, 

maining  in  the  memory  like  the  vague  relics  of  a  dream. 
And  in  this  atmosphere  he  plants  his  figures,  of  which 
some  are  clothed  in  the  dazzling  light  of  a  theatrical 
apotheosis,  others  veiled  like  phantoms,  others  revealed 
by  one  stroke  of  light  upon  the  face ;  dressed  in  habits  of 
luxury  or  misery^  but  all  with  something  strange  and 
fantastic ;  without  distinctness  of  outline,  but  loaded  with 
powerful  colors,  sculptural  reliefs,  and  bold  touches  of 
the  brush;  and  everywhere  a  warmth  of  expression,  a 
fury  of  violent  inspiration,  the  superb,  capricious,  and 
profound  imprint  of  a  free  and  fearless  genius. 

For  the  rest,  everyone  is  free  to  form  his  own  opinion ; 
but  who  knows  if  Hembrandt,  reading  the  endless  page^ 
that  have  been  written  to  explain  the  inner  meaning  of 
his  works,  would  not  burst  into  a  shout  of  laughter ! 

Such  is  the  fate  of  a  man  of  genius ;  everybody,  to 
show  that  he  understands  better  than  the  rest,  explains 
him  in  his  own  way ;  he  is  a  theme  given  by  God,  which 
men  turn  and  twist  in  a  thousand  ways  ;  a  canvas  upon 
which  human  imagination  paints  and  embroiders  accord- 
ing to  its  bent  or  fancy. 

1  left  the  museum  of  the  Hague  with  one  desire  un- 
satisfied ;  I  had  found  there  no  picture  by  Jerome  Bosch, 
born  at  Bois-le-Duc  in  the  fifteenth  century.  That  dia- 
bolical brain,  that  terror  of  bigots,  that  great  sorcerer  of 
art,  had  made  my  flesh  shrink  in  the  gallery  at  Madrid, 
with  a  picture  representing  an  army  of  living  skeletons, 
sprinkled  over  an  immense  space,  and  engaged  in  a 
struggle  with  a  various,  confused,  and  desperate  crowd  of 
men  and  women^  whom  they  were  dragging  into  an  abyss 


THE  HAGUE.  153 

where  death  awaited  them.  Only  from  the  diseased 
imagination  o£  a  man  agitated  by  the  terrors  of  damnation 
could  such  a  monstrous  extravagance  have  issued.  Such 
were  the  subjects  of  all  his  pictures :  tortures  of  the 
damned^  spectres,  abysms  of  fire,  dragons,  supernatural 
birds,  filthy  monsters,  devilish  furnaces,  sinister  land- 
scapes. One  of  these  terrible  pictures  was  found  in  the 
cell  where  Philip  II.  breathed  his  last ;  others  are  scat- 
tered about  Spain  and  Italy.  Who  was  this  chimerical 
painter  ?  How  did  he  live  ?  What  strange  mania  tor- 
mented him  ?  No  one  knoAVs.  He  passed  over  the  earth 
wrapped  in  a  cloud,  and  vanisiied  like  a  vision  of  hell. 

On  the  ground-floor  of  the  museum  there  is  a  "  Royal 
Cabinet  of  Curiosities,^''  which  contains,  among  a  great 
variety  of  objects  from  China,  Japan,  and  the  colonies  of 
Holland,  some  precious  historical  relics.  There  is  the 
sword  of  that  Ruyter  who  began  life  as  a  rope-maker  at 
Flessingnen,  and  became  Grand  Admiral  of  Holland;  there 
is  the  cuirass  of  Admiral  Tromp,  perforated  by  a  ball ;  a 
chair  from  the  prison  of  the  venerable  Barnevelt ;  a  box 
containing  some  of  the  hair  of  that  Van  Spoyk,  who  in 
1831,  on  the  Scheldt,  blew  up  his  own  ship  to  save  the 
honor  of  the  Dutch  flag.  There  is  besides  the  complete 
drCftS  worn  by  William  of  Orange  on  the  day  of  his 
murder  at  Delft :  the  shirt  stained  with  blood,  the  waist- 
coat of  buflalo-skiu  pierced  by  the  balls,  the  wide  trousers, 
the  broad  felt  hat;  and  in  the  same  glass  case,  the  bullets, 
with  the  pistol  of  the  assassin,  and  the  original  sentence 
of  death. 

That  more  than  modest  costume,  worn  in  the  height  of 


151  HOLLAND. 

liis  power  and  glory  by  the  chief  of  the  Republic  of  the 
Netherlands,  is  a  fine  testimony  to  the  patriarchal  simpli- 
city of  Dutch  customs.  There  is  not,  perhaps,  another 
modern  nation  that  has  shown,  at  an  equalheight  of  pros- 
perity, less  vanity  and  luxury.  It  is  related  that  when 
the  Earl  of  Leicester  came  to  Holland  as  ambassador 
from  Elizabeth,  and  when  Spinosa  was  there  treating  for 
peace  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,  their  magnifi- 
cence almost  created  a  scandal.  It  is  said  that  the  Spanish 
ambassadors  sent  to  the  Hague  in  1608  to  stipulate  for 
the  famous  truce,  saw  the  deputies  from  the  States  of 
Holland,  meanly  dressed,  seated  in  a  field,  and  making 
their  breakfast  off  some  bread  and  cheese  which  they 
had  brought  with  them  in  a  bag.  The  Grand  Pensionary 
John  de  Witt,  the  adversary  of  Louis  XIV.,  had  but  one 
servant.  Admiral  Euyter  lived  at  Amsterdam  like  a  poor 
man,  and  swept  out  his  own  bedroom. 

Another  very  curious  object  in  this  museum  is  a  case 
opening  in  front  like  a  cupboard,  and  representing  in  the 
minutest  particulars  the  interior  of  a  rich  man's  house  at 
Amsterdam  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  Czar  Peter  the  Great  during  his  sojourn  at  Amsterdam 
had  given  to  a  rich  burgher  of  the  place  the  commission 
for  this  toy-house,  intending  to  carry  it  to  Russia  as  a 
memorial  of  Holland.  The  rich  burgher,  who  was  named 
Brandt,  did  the  thing  like  a  brave  Dutchman,  slowly  and 
well  The  cleverest  workmen  in  Holland  made  the  furni- 
ture, the  most  expert  goldsmiths  made  the  plate,  the  most 
accurate  typographers  printed  the  little  books,  the  most 
delicate  miniature-painters  executed  the  pictures,  the  linea 


THE  HAGUE.  155 

was  made  in  Flanders^  the  carpets  and  hangings  at 
L'trecht.  After  twenty-five  years  of  labor  all  the  rooms 
were  completed.  The  nuptial-chamber  had  everything 
necessary  for  the  approaching  confinement  of  the  little 
mistress;  in  the  dining-room  there  was  a  microscopic  tea- 
service  upon  a  table  as  big  as  a  silver  dollar ;  the  gallery 
of  pictures  was  complete;  the  kitchen  contained  the 
utensils  necessary  for  a  dinner  for  a  lilliputian  company; 
there  was  the  library,  a  cabinet  of  Chinese  curiosities, 
cages  with  birds,  tiny  prayer-books,  carpets,  linen  for  all 
the  family,  with  finest  lace  and  embroidery ;  nothing  was 
wanting  but  a  conjugal  couple,  with  maids  and  a  cook  a 
little  smaller  than  an  ordinary  puppet.  But  there  was 
one  great  fault :  the  house  cost  one  hundred  and  twenty 
thousand  francs.  The  Czar,  who,  as  all  the  world  knows, 
was  an  economical  man,  refused  to  take  it;  and  Brandt,  to 
shame  the  imperial  avarice,  made  a  present  of  it  to  the 
museum  of  the  Hague. 

From  the  first  day  of  my  arrival  at  the  Hague,  I  had 
remarked  in  the  streets  certain  women  dressed  in  so  extra- 
ordinary a  manner  that  I  had  followed  one  of  them  in 
order  to  observe  the  particulars  of  her  costume.  At 
first  I  imagined  that  they  belonged  to  some  religious 
order,  or  that  they  were  hermits,  or  pilgrims,  or  perhaps 
the  women  of  some  nomadic  people  passing  through 
Holland.  They  wore  a  preposterous  hat  of  straw  lined 
with  printed  muslin,  a  monkish  mantle  of  chocolate- 
colored  serge,  lined  with  red;  a  short  white  petticoat  also 
of  serge,  and  set  out  as  if  by  crinoline;  black  stockings, 
and  white  wooden  shoes.     In   the  morning  I  saw  them 


156  HOLLAND. 

going  to  market,  with  a  basketful  of  fish  on  their  heads, 
or  with  a  cart  drawn  by  two  great  dogs.  In  general, 
they  were  alone,  or  two  women  together,  but  never  with 
a  man.  They  walked  in  a  peculiar  manner,  with  long 
strides,  and  a  certain  heaviness,  like  people  accustomed 
to  walk  in  sand ;  and  in  their  faces  and  bearing  there 
was  something  of  sadness,  which  agreed  with  the  cenobitic 
austerity  of  their  garb. 

A  citizen  to  whom  I  applied  for  information  concerning 
these  odd  figures,  answered  simply :  "  Go  to  Schevenin- 
gen.'^ 

Scheveningen  is  a  village  about  two  miles  from  the 
Hague,  and  approached  by  a  straight  road  bordered  by  a 
double  row  of  beautiful  elms  that  allow  no  ray  of  sun 
to  penetrate  them.  This  road,  which  is  gay  on  either 
side  with  villas  and  gardens,  is  the  favorite  promenade 
of  the  people  of  the  city,  but  on  other  days  is  almost 
solitary.  You  meet  no  one  but  one  of  the  figures 
described  above,  or  a  carriage,  or  the  diligence  that 
plies  between  the  city  and  the  village.  With  its  deep 
shade,  rich  vegetation,  and  solitude,  it  reminds  one  of 
the  grove  of  the  Alliambra  at  Grenada,  and  one  forgets 
that  he  is  in  Holland,  and  thinks  no  more  of  Scheven- 
ingen. 

But  arrived  at  the  end,  an  instant  change  of  scene  dis- 
sipates the  image  of  Grenada,  and  nothing  remains  but 
a  desert  of  sand ;  the  salt  breeze  blows  in  your  face 
with  a  low  continuous  murmur,  and  if  you  mount  a 
little  hillock,  you  see  spread  out  before  you  the  North 
gea. 


THE  HAGUE.  157 

For  anyone  who  has  never  seen  any  sea  but  the  Medi- 
terranean the  spectacle  is  a  very  striking  one.  The  beach 
is  composed  of  sand  as  fine  and  light  as  ashes,  and  upon 
it  the  spreading  waves  for  ever  fold  and  unfold  themselves 
like  a  carpet.  This  sandy  beach  extends  to  the  feet  of  the 
downSj  which  are  composed  of  little  hillocks  of  sand — 
steep,  broken,  and  corroded,  deformed  by  the  eternal 
flagellation  of  the  sea.  Such  is  the  entire  Dutch  coast, 
from  the  mouths  of  the  Meiise  to  Helder.  There  are 
no  moUusks,  nor  star- fish,  nor  living  shells,  nor  crabs,  nor 
a  shrub,  nor  a  blade  of  grass.  Nothing  but  water  and 
sand,  sterility  and  solitude. 

The  sea  is  no  less  melancholy  than  the  coast,  and 
answers  truly  to  the  image  we  have  formed  of  the 
North  sea,  in  reading  of  the  supei'stitious  terrors  of  the 
ancients  who  fancied  it  lashed  by  eternal  winds  and  peopled 
by  gigantic  monsters.  Near  the  shore  it  is  of  a  yellowish 
color,  beyond,  a  pallid  green,  and  still  further  off,  a  dull 
blue.  The  horizon  is  in  general  veiled  in  mists  which  often 
descend  to  the  shores  and  hide  the  sea,  like  an  immense  cur- 
tain, leaving  visible  only  the  wave  that  dies  upon  the  beach, 
or  some  specimen  of  a  fisherman^s  bark  not  far  distant. 
The  sky  is  almost  always  grey,  traversed  by  great  clouds 
which  cast  dense  and  moving  shadows  on  the  water;  at 
some  points  it  is  black  with  a  darkness  like  night,  raising 
in  the  mind  images  of  tempest  and  horrid  shipwreck; 
at  others,  illuminated  by  streaks  of  vivid  light,  serpentine, 
and  like  motionless  lightning,  or  rays  from  some  my^ 
sterious  planet.  The  wave,  always  agitated,  rushes  to 
bite  the  shore  with  impetuous  rage,  and  gives  forth  a  pro- 


158  HOLLAND, 

longed  ciy  of  grief  and  menace,  as  from  a  crowd  of 
lamenting  creatures.  The  sea_,  the  sky,  and  the  earth  turn 
sinister  looks  upon  each  other,  like  three  implacable 
enemies,  and  the  spectator  shudders  under  the  dread  of 
some  great  convulsion  of  nature. 

The  village  of  Scheveningen  is  posted  on  the  downs, 
which  defend  it  from  the  sea,  and  hide  it,  so  that 
looking  from  the  beach  you  can  see  nothing  but  the 
sugar-loaf  church- steeple  standing  like  an  obelisk  in  the 
midst  of  the  sand.  The  village  is  divided  into  two  parts. 
One  part  is  composed  of  elegant  little  houses  of  all'  the 
forms  and  colors  usual  in  Holland,  built  for  the  use  of 
strangers,  and  having  "To  Let^^  upon  them  in  several 
languages ;  tho  other  portion,  in  which  the  native  popu- 
lation lives,  consists  of  small  black  cottages  and  narrow 
lanes,  where  strangers  never  set  their  feet. 

The  population  of  Scheveningen,  which  counts  a  few 
thousand  souls,  is  almost  all  made  up  of  fishermen,  for 
the  most  part  very  poor.  The  village  is  also  one  of  the 
stations  for  the  herring  fishery,  that  celebrated  fish  to 
which  Holland  owes  so  much  of  her  wealth  and  power ; 
but  the  fruits  of  this  industry  go  to  the  owners  of  the 
fishing  vessels,  and  the  men  of  Scheveningen,  enrolled  as 
mariners,  earn  hardly  enough  to  live.  On  the  beach  in 
front  of  the  village  lie  many  of  these  vessels,  broad  and 
robust,  with  one  mast  and  a  great  square  sail ;  they  lie 
one  beside  the  other  in  a  row  upon  the  sand,  like  the 
Greek  galleys  on  the  shores  of  Troy,  safe  from  the  winds 
and  waves.  The  herring  flotilla  leaves  in  the  early  days 
of  June,  accompanied  by  a  steam  corvette,  and  takes  its 


THE  HAGUE.  159 

course  towards  the  coast  of  Scotland.  The  first  herrings 
taken  are  sent  at  once  to  Holland,  where  thev  are  con- 
veyed  in  a  car  all  decorated  with  flags  to  the  King,  who 
gives  in  return  five  hundred  florins.  These  boats  also 
pursue  other  kinds  of  fish,  which  are  in  part  sold  at 
auction  on  the  shores  of  the  sea,  and  in  part  left  to  the 
fishermen  of  Scheveningen,  who  send  them  by  their 
women  to  the  market  at  the  Hague. 

Scheveningen,  like  all  the  other  villages  of  the  coast — 
Ratwijk,  Wlardingen,  Maasluis — is  a  place  fallen  from  its 
once  flourishing  condition,  in  consequence  of  the  decline 
of  the  herring  fishery,  caused,  as  everybody  knows,  by  the 
rivalry  of  England  and  by  disastrous  wars.  But  poverty, 
instead  of  weakening,  invigorates  the  character  of  this 
people — without  doubt  the  most  original  and  the  most 
poetic  of  the  inhabitants  of  Holland.  The  people  of 
Scheveningen  seem  by  their  aspect,  character,  and  cos- 
tume, like  a  foreign  tribe  in  their  own  country.  They  are 
at  only  two  miles  distance  from  a  great  city,  and  yet  pre- 
serve intact  their  primitive  manners  and  customs,  and 
their  love  of  solitude.  Such  as  they  were  centuries  ago, 
such  are  they  now.  Not  one  abandons  his  native  village, 
and  no  one  who  is  not  born  there  penetrates  it ;  they 
marry  among  themselves  ;  they  speak  a  peculiar  dialect ; 
and  thev  dress  in  the  same  fashion  and  colors  as  their 
fathers  and  grandfathers  before  them.  In  the  fishing 
season  only  the  women  and  children  remain  in  the  village  : 
the  men  are  all  at  sea.  When  they  leave  they  carry  their 
Bibles  with  them,  and  on  board  there  is  no  drunkenness 
or  profanity,  and  no  laughter.     When  the  tempestuous 


IGO  HOLLAND. 

seas  toss  their  little  boats^  they  close  every  aperture  and 
await  death  with  resignation  ;  while  their  women,  shut  up 
in  their  storm-beaten  cottages,  sing  hymns  and  psalms. 
Those  small  habitations,  that  have  witnessed  such  mortal 
.mxieties,  heard  the  sobs  of  so  many  widows,  seen  the 
•!oly  joy  of  return,  and  the  inconsolable  grief  of  parting, 
represent  the  freedom  and  dignified  poverty  of  their  inha- 
])itants.  From  those  houses  come  no  vagabonds  or  aban- 
doned women;  no  native  of  Schcveningen  has  ever  deserted 
the  sea,  and  no  young  girl  has  ever  disdained  the  hand  of 
a  fisherman.  Men  and  women  have  in  the  carriage  of 
the  head  and  the  expression  of  the  eye  a  something 
of  gravity  and  dignitj'-  that  imposes  respect.  They  salute 
without  bending  the  head,  looking  you  straight  in  the  eye, 
with  an  expression  which  implies  :  *^  We  have  need  of  no 
one." 

Even  in  this  small  village  there  are  two  schools,  and  at 
certain  hours  the  narrow  lanes  are  alive  with  children  with 
slate  and  book  in  hand. 

Scheveningen  is  not  only  a  village  famous  for  the  ori- 
ginality of  its  inhabitants,  which  strangers  visit  and  artists 
paint;  there  are  two  great  bathing  establishments  there, 
where,  in  the  summer,  come  English,  E,ussians,  Germans, 
and  Danes;  the  flower  of  the  northern  aristocracy; 
princes  and  ministers;  half  the  Almanach  de  Gotha;  and 
there  are  balls,  fantastic  illuminations,  and  fireworks  on 
the  water.  The  two  establishments  are  on  the  downs. 
At  every  hour  in  the  day,  certain  carriages  in  the  form 
of  caravans  at  a  fair,  each  drawn  by  one  strong  horse, 
advance  from  the  beach  into  the  sea,  turn  round,  and 


TBE  HAGUE.  161 

ladies  with  golden  locks  floating  on  the  breeze  issue  from 
thenee  and  phmge  into  the  sea.  At  night  there  is  music, 
the  bathers  promenade  the  beach,  in  festive  array,  and 
all  the  languages  as  well  as  all  the  beauties  of  Europe  are 
to  be  heard  and  seen.  The  melancholy  stranger  wanders 
in  the  obscure  solitudes  of  the  downs,  where  the  music 
reaches  his  ear,  like  a  distant  echo,  and  the  lights  in  the 
fishermen^s  houses  make  him  think  of  home  and  peace. 

The  first  time  I  went  to  Scheveningen,  I  walked  over 
these  downs,  illustrated  by  so  many  painters,  the  only 
heights  that  intercept  the  view  over  the  immense  flats 
of  Holland,  rebellious  daughters  of  the  sea  disputing  its 
advance,  and  at  once  prisoners  and  guardians  of  the 
country.  There  are  three  ranges  of  downs  which  form  a 
triple  bulwark  against  the  sea;  the  exterior  ones  are  the 
most  arid,  those  in  the  midst  the  highest,  and  the  in- 
terior ones  the  most  cultivated.  The  average  height  of 
these  hills  of  sand  is  not  more  than  fifteen  metres ;  and 
altogether  they  do  not  enter  more  than  a  French  league 
into  the  land.  But  having  no  greater  heights  near  them 
or  about  them,  they  deceive  the  eye  with  the  aspect  of 
a  mountainous  region.  Seen  from  above  they  present  the 
image  of  a  yellow,  angry,  and  motionless  sea.  The 
dreariness  and  sadness  of  this  desert  is  increased  by  a 
savage  vegetation,  which  seems  in  mourning  for  nature 
dead  and  abandoned ;  a  little  thin  scattered  grass,  flowers 
whose  petals  are  almost  diaphanous,  broom,  rosemary, 
and  the  like,  through  which,  here  and  there,  one  may 
see  the  flight  of  a  terrified  rabbit.  For  long  distances 
there  is  no  house,  nor  tree,  nor  human  being  to  be  seen. 


1G2  HOLLAND. 

From  time  to  time  flocks  of  crows,  curlews,  and  gulls 
sweep  by,  and  their  cries,  witli  the  rnstle  of  the  shrubs 
tossed  by  the  wind,  are  the  only  sounds  that  disturb  the 
silence  of  those  solitudes.  When  the  sky  is  black,  the 
dull  color  of  the  earth  takes  on  a  sort  of  sinister  light, 
like  those  fantastic  gleams  in  which  objects  seen  through 
a  colored  glass  appear.  At  such  times,  alone  in  the 
midst  of  the  downs,  the  stranger  feels  a  sense  of  awe, 
as  one  in  an  unknown  land,  immeasurably  far  away 
from  any  inhabited  country,  and  looks  anxiously  round 
for  the  shadow  of  a  steeple  wherewith  to  comfort  his 
soul. 

In  all  my  walk  I  met  only  one  or  two  peasants.  It 
is  a  notable  thing  in  a  northern  country,  that  this  Dutch 
peasant  almost  always  salutes  the  stranger  whom  he  meets 
by  the  way.  Some  touch  the  hat  with  an  odd  gesture, 
hastily,  and  as  if  by  mistake;  generally  they  say  "  Good 
evening,'^  or  '^  Good  morning,^^  without  looking  in  your 
face.  If  they  meet  two  persons  they  say,  '^  Good  even- 
ing to  both  of  you '' ;  if  more  than  two,  ^^  Good  evening 
to  altogether.^^  I  encountered  in  a  path  on  the  downs 
several  of  those  poor  fishermen  who  pass  nearly  the  whole 
day  in  water  up  to  their  waists,  gathering  shells  which  are 
used  to  make  a  certain  kind  of  cement,  or  are  sprinkled 
in  the  garden-paths  instead  of  sand.  The  operation 
which  they  are  obliged  to  go  through  to  remove  the  enor- 
mous leather  boots  which  they  wear  in  the  water,  takes 
at  least  half  an  hour  of  trouble  and  fatigue,  which  would 
give  an  Italian  a  pretext  for  calling  all  the  saints  out  of 
heaven.    These,  on  the  contrary,  go  about  it  with  phlegm- 


TEE  HAGUE.  163 

atic  patience,  allowing  no  sign  of  annoyance  to  escape 
them,  and  never  lifting  tlieir  heads  until  the  operation 
is  completed,  not  even  if  a  cannon  were  to  explode  near 
them. 

Standing  on  tlie  downs,  near  a  stone  obelisk  which 
records  tlie  return  of  William  of  Orange  from  England 
after  the  fall  of  the  Frencli  domination,  I  saw,  for  the 
first  time,  one  of  those  sunsets  which  are  peculiar  to  this 
country.  The  sun,  in  consequence  of  the  refraction  of 
the  vapory  mists  with  which  the  air  of  Holland  is  filled, 
appears  of  an  extraordinary  size,  and  diffuses  through 
the  clouds  and  over  the  sea  a  veiled  and  tremulous  splen- 
dor like  the  reflection  of  a  great  conflagration.  It  seemed 
another  sun,  unexpectedly  appearing  on  the  horizon,  and 
sinking,  never  to  rise  again  upon  this  world.  In  Holland, 
says  the  poet,  the  sun  does  not  set ;  he  dies. 

Since  I  have  spoken  of  my  visit  to  Scheveningen,  I 
will  record  two  other  excursions  that  I  made  from  the 
Hague  during  the  winter. 

The  first  was  to  the  village  of  Naaldwijk  and  to  the 
point  of  the  shore  where  the  new  canal  of  Rotterdam  is 
being  opened.  At  Naaldwijk,  thanks  to  the  courtesy  of 
a  school-inspector  who  accompanied  me,  I  satisfied  my 
desire  to  see  an  elementary  school ;  and  I  may  say  at 
once  that  my  expectations  were  more  than  fulfilled.  The 
school-house,  built  purposely  for  that  use,  stands  alone,  and 
has  only  the  ground-floor.  We  entered  a  small  vestibule, 
where  there  was  a  small  mountain  of  wooden  shoes  be- 
longing to  the  scholars,  and  which  they  resumed  when 
they  went  out.     In  schools  they  sit  with  stockings  only, 


1G4  HOLLAND. 

but  the  stockings  are  very  thick,  and  the  schoolroom  is 
warmed  thoroughly. 

When  we  came  in,  the  scholars  rose  and  the  master 
came  forward  to  meet  the  inspector.  Even  this  poor  vil- 
lage schoolmaster  spoke  French,  so  that  we  could  enter 
into  conversation.  There  were  about  forty  scholars  pre- 
sent, half  male,  half  female,  and  the  sexes  divided ;  all 
were  blonde  and  plump,  with  broad,  good-tempered  faces, 
and  a  certain  precocious  air  of  fathers  and  mothers  of 
families  that  made  one  smile.  The  building  is  divided 
into  five  rooms,  separated  one  from  the  other  by  a  glazed 
partition;  so  that  if  the  master  of  one  class  is  absent, 
the  master  of  the  nearest  one  can  oversee  it  without 
leaving  his  place.  All  the  rooms  are  spacious  and  have 
very  large  windows  extending  from  floor  to  ceiling,  so  that 
it  is  as  light  as  in  the  street.  The  benches,  walls,  floors, 
stores,  and  glass  partitions  were  all  as  clean  and  briglit 
as  in  a  ballroom.  Having  a  lively  recollection  of  the 
pestiferous  condition  of  certain  retired  spots  in  the  schools 
that  I  had  frequented  when  a  boy,  I  inspected  these 
places  here,  and  found  them  in  excellent  condition.  On 
the  walls  of  the  rooms  there  were  small  pictures,  land- 
scapes, and  figures,  and  groups  of  animals,  to  which  the 
master  referred  in  his  teaching ;  maps  in  vivid  colors  with 
the  names  printed  large ;  sentences,  grammatical  rules, 
and  moral  precepts  in  large  characters.  One  thing  only 
seemicd  to  be  open  to  criticism  :  personal  cleanliness. 

In  some  schools  in  Switzerland  there  are  washing-rooms 
where  the  pupils  are  obliged  to  wash  themselves  before 
entering  the  school,   and    also   when   they   go   away.     I 


TEE  HAGUE.  165 

should  have  liked  to  see  the  same  thing  in  Holland,  and 
then  there  would  have  heen  nothing  more  to  be  desired. 

I  said  *'  poor  schoolmaster/^  merely  as  a  common 
mode  of  expression,  for  I  learned  that  he  had  a  stipend  of 
more  than  two  thousand  two  hundred  francs,  and  a  home 
in  a  good  house  in  the  village.  In  Holland  the  minimum 
for  the  head  master  of  an  elementary  school  is  eight  hun- 
dred francs.  But  there  are  masters  who  have  the  salary 
of  one  of  our  university  professors. 

The  question  of  instruction  in  Holland,  as  in  almost  all 
other  countries,  is  a  religious  question,  which,  in  its  turn, 
is  the  most  serious,  if  not  the  only,  question  which  agi- 
tates the  nation. 

Of  the  three  millions  and  a  half  of  inhabitants  that  Hol- 
land counts,  one  third  are  Catholics ;  about  one  hundred 
thousand  Jews,  the  rest  Protestants.  The  Catholics,  who 
for  the  most  part  inhabit  the  southern  provinces  of  Lim- 
bourg  and  Brabant,  are  not,  as  in  other  countries,  poli- 
tically divided,  but  constitute  one  solid  legion,  clerical, 
papistical,  and  ultramontane,  the  most  faithful  of  the 
Ptoman  legions,  as  the  Hollanders  themselves  say ;  among 
whom  they  sell  the  straw  on  which  the  Pontiff  has  slept 
in  his  dungeon,  and  fulminate  Italy  from  the  pulpit  and 
through  the  journals.  This  Catholic  party,  not  very 
powerful  in  itself,  is  made  so  by  the  division  of  the  Pro- 
testants into  seven  sects  :  Orthodox  Calvinists ;  Protestants 
who  believe  in  revelation  but  reject  certain  dogmas  of  the 
Church ;  others  who  deny  the  divinity  of  Christ,  without 
separating  from  the  Protestant  Church;  others  believing 
in  God,  but  belonging  to  no  church ;   and  others,  among 


166  HOLLAND, 

whom  are  many  men  of  great  ability,  who  make  open 
profession  of  atheism.  In  this  state  of  things  the  Catho- 
lic party  has  for  its  natural  allies  the  Calvinists,  who,  as 
fervent  believers  and  inflexible  conservatives  of  the  faith 
of  their  fathers,  are  much  less  divided  from  the  Catholics 
than  from  a  large  part  of  their  co-religionists,  and  form, 
as  it  were,  the  clerical  party  of  Protestantism.  Now,  in 
the  States  General  there  are  on  one  side  the  Catholics 
and  Calvinists,  on  the  other  side  the  Liberal  party,  and 
between  them  a  wavering  party  that  consents  to  the 
absolute  supremacy  of  neither.  The  principal  field  of 
battle  between  the  extreme  parties  is  the  question  of  pri- 
mary instruction,  reduced,  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics 
and  Calvinists,  to  the  determination  that  for  the  so-called 
mixed  schools  (where  no  special  religious  instruction  is 
given,  in  order  to  facilitate  the  coming  together  of  pupils 
of  all  religious  sects)  should  be  substituted  others  where 
dogmatic  instruction  should  be  given,  and  maintained  by 
the  commune  under  the  direction  of  the  State. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  gravity  of  the  consequences 
that  would  ensue  from  such  a  schism  in  popular  educa- 
tion, the  germs  of  discord  and  religious  hatred,  the  per- 
turbations that  would  in  time  result  from  the  dividing 
the  youth  of  the  country  into  two  groups  of  difterent 
faiths.  At  present  the  principle  of  mixed  schools  still 
prevails,  but  the  Liberals  maintain  with  difficulty  their 
ascendancy;  the  Catholics  and  Calvinists  olitain  conces- 
sions, and  will  obtain  more ;  in  a  word,  the  Catholic  party, 
more  powerful  than  the  Calvinist,  solid,  rcsoKite,  and 
united,  are  gaining  ground  every  day ;   and  it  is  not  im- 


TEE  EAGUK  167 

probable  that  they  will  succeed  in  obtaining  a  victory, 
which,  although  it  may  be  only  temporary,  will  produce  a 
violent  reaction  in  the  country.  To  such  a  condition  is 
Holland  now  reduced,  which  for  eighty  years  carried  on  a 
desperate  straggle  against  Catholic  despotism,  and  which 
no\7  has  grave  reasons  to  fear  a  not  distant  religious  war. 

Notwithstanding,  however,  this  state  of  things,  which 
prevents  the  institution,  desired  so  ardently  by  the 
Liberals,  of  obligatory  instruction,  and  which  keeps  a  large 
number  of  Catholic  children  out  of  the  schools,  the  state 
of  popular  instruction  in  Holland  is  so  flourishing  that 
many  European  states  might  envy  it.  Proportions  con- 
sidered, there  are  fewer  persons  ignorant  of  the  alphabet 
than  in  Prussia.  "  In  all  Europe,^"*  says  a  Dutch  writer 
(who,  in  other  respects,  judges  his  own  country  rather 
severely),  "it  is  the  country  where  the  knowledge  in- 
dispensable to  a  civilised  man  is  most  universally  diffused/' 
I  once  asked  a  Hollander  whether,  among  the  class  of 
women-servants,  there  were  any  who  could  not  read. 
"  Oh,  yes,^-*  he  said  j  '^  I  remember  about  tAventy  years 
ago  my  mother  had  a  maid  who  did  not  know  her  letters; 
but  it  was  considered  a  very  unusual  thing.""  And  it  is 
pleasant  for  a  stranger  in  a  Dutch  city,  and  who  does  not 
know  the  language,  to  find  that  any  street-boy  can  read 
a  name  and  tell  him  where  a  street  is  by  gestures. 

Discoursing  of  Catholics  and  Calvinists,  my  friend  and 
I  reached  the  downs,  and  although  we  were  not  a  stones- 
tlu'ow  from  the  beach,  we  could  not  see  the  sea.  "  Hol- 
land is  an  odd  country,'*  said  I,  "  everything  in  it  seems 
to  be  playing  at   hide  and  seek.      The  fajades  of  the 


168  HOLLAND. 

houses  hide  the  roofs,  the  trees  hide  the  houses,  the  city 
hides  the  ships,  the  dykes  hide  the  canals,  the  fog  hides 
the  fiekls,  the  downs  hide  the  sea/'  "  And  one  day  or 
another ,■''  responded  my  friend,  *'  the  sea  will  hide  every- 
thing else,  and  the  game  will  be  over/' 

Crossing  the  downs  we  reached  the  point  where  the 
preparatory  works  for  the  opening  of  the  Rotterdam  canal 
are  in  progress. 

Two  dykes,  one  more  than  twelve  hundred  metres  in 
length,  the  other  about  two  thousand,  with  the  distance 
of  one  kilometre  between  them,  advance  into  the  sea  in  a 
direction  perpendicular  to  the  shore.  These  two  dykes, 
constructed  to  protect  the  entrance  of  vessels  into  the 
canal,  are  formed  of  several  rows  of  enormous  piles, 
great  blocks  of  granite,  fascines,  stones,  and  earth,  and 
have  the  width  of  ten  men  standing  shoulder  to  shoulder. 
The  sea,  which  continually  beats  upon  them,  and  covers 
them  almost  entirely  at  high  tide,  has  clothed  the  surface 
with  a  thick  coating  of  shells,  black  as  ebony,  looking  at  a 
distance  like  a  velvet  carpet,  and  giving  to  these  gigantic 
bulwarks  a  severe  and  magnificent  aspect,  as  if  Holland 
had  hung  out  a  warlike  drapery  to  celebrate  her  victory 
over  the  ocean.  At  the  moment,  the  tide  was  rising  and 
the  battle  raged  about  the  distant  extremities  of  the 
dykes.  The  livid  waves  raged  around  two  granite  horns 
that  stretch,  as  if  in  mockery,  into  the  bosom  of  their 
superb  enemy.  The  piles  and  masses  of  masonry  were 
beaten  and  gnawed  and  buffeted  on  every  side,  over- 
whelmed by  angry  billows,  spit  upon  by  a  vaporous  rain 
which  fell  about  them  in  powdery  clouds ;  enveloped  as  iu 


THE  HAGUE.  169 

the  folds  of  furious  serpents ;  struck,  even  those  farthest 
from  the  struggle,  by  unexpected  and  lengthened  spurts 
of  water  like  impatient  advance  guards  of  that  infinite 
army;  and  the  waters,  steadily  advancing,  drove  back 
the  workmen  step  by  step. 

On  the  longest  of  the  two  dykes,  not  very  far  from  the 
beach,  they  were  driving  in  piles.  Some,  with  tremendous 
eftbrts,  raised  the  great  blocks  of  granite  by  means  of 
pulleys ;  others,  ten  or  fifteen  together,  removed  the  old 
beams  to  make  room  for  new.  It  was  fine  to  see  the 
contrast  between  the  fury  of  the  waves  and  the  calm  im- 
passibility of  those  men,  which  seemed  almost  like  dis- 
dain. A  bitter  wind  waved  about  their  brave  Dutch 
faces  the  loug  locks  of  their  light  hair,  and  covered  them 
with  flecks  of  foam ;  foolish  provocations  which  obtained 
not  even  a  glance. 

I  saw  them  plant  a  pile  in  the  middle  of  the  dyke,  a 
monstrous  trunk  of  a  tree  sharpened  at  the  extremity, 
and  raised  between  two  parallel  beams  under  an  enormous 
steam  hammer.  The  pile  had  to  make  its  way  through 
several  strata  of  stones  and  fascines ;  but  at  every  blow  of 
that  formidable  hammer  it  sank  into  the  dyke  as  if  pene- 
trating the  soft  earth.  Nevertheless  the  operation  for 
that  one  pile  alone  lasted  one  hour.  I  thought  of  the 
thousands  that  had  been  driven,  and  of  the  thou- 
sands that  were  yet  to  be  driven,  of  the  interminable 
dykes  that  defend  Holland,  of  the  infinite  numbers  of 
them  that  have  been  destroyed  and  reconstructed,  and 
embracing  for  the  first  time  in  my  thought  the  grandeur? 
of  the  workj  I  stood  dumb  with  amazements 


170  HOLLAND. 

A  dear  friend  of  mine  at  tlie  Hague  had  invited  me  to 
dine  witli  him  at  the  house  of  a  relation^  who  had  mani- 
fested a  courteous  desire  to  make  my  acquaintance.  In 
answer  to  my  question  as  to  where  the  gentlemen  livedo  I 
was  told  "  Far  from  the  Hague/'  and  was  directed  to  be 
next  morning  at  the  railway  station^  where  my  friend 
would  meet  me.  Having  obeyed  this  direction,  we  took 
our  tickets  for  Ley  den,  and  arriving  there  in  due  time,  did 
not  enter  the  city,  but  struck  off  by  a  road  acrosG  country. 
I  asked  my  companion  then  to  reveal  the  secret,  but  he 
declined  to  do  so.  Knowing  that  when  a  Dutchman  has 
once  said  a  thing,  no  power  on  earth  can  make  him  change 
it,  I  resigned  myself  to  the  inevitable.  It  was  in  Feb- 
ruary. There  was  a  cloudy  sky^  but  no  snow;  and  a  cold, 
impetuous  wind,  that  in  about  five  minutes  made  my  nose 
of  a  fine  purple.  It  was  Sunday,  and  the  country  was 
deserted.  We  went  on  and  on,  passing  windmills,  canals, 
meadows,  houses  half  hidden  in  trees,  with  tall  thatched 
roofs  tapestried  with  moss.  We  reached  a  village ;  Dutch 
villages  are  all  closed  by  a  sort  of  barrier.  We  entered. 
Nobody  there.  The  doors  all  shut,  windows  with  blinds 
drawn  down,  not  a  voice,  not  a  step,  not  a  breath  stirring. 
Going  through  the  village,  we  passed  a  church,  covered 
with  ivy  like  a  garden-house,  in  which,  through  an  opening 
in  the  door,  we  could  see  the  Protestant  minister,  in  a 
white  cravat,  preaching  to  a  congregation  of  peasants 
whose  faces  were  all  streaked  with  gold  and  green  and 
crimson  from  the  windows  of  stained  glass.  Proceeding 
by  a  fine  brick- paved  street,  we  saw  frames  for  the 
gtorks'  nests,  posts  planted  by  the  peasants  for  the  cows 


THE  HAGUE.  171 

to  rub  tliemselves  against,  palings  painted-  of  a  celestial 
blue,  small  houses  with  tiles  of  various  colors  forming 
letters  and  words,  basins  with  little  boats,  tiny  bridges, 
kiosks  of  unknown  purpose,  little  chapels  Avith  great 
gilded  cocks  upon  the  tops  of  their  steeples ;  and  no  living 
soul  far  or  near. 

We  go  on  and  on.  The  sky  clears  a  little  and  relapses 
into  clouds  again ;  the  sun  illumines  for  an  instant  a 
canal,  glistens  on  the  roof  of  a  house,  gilds  a  distant 
steeple,  flies,  returns,  promises,  and  coquets  in  a  hundred 
ways;  and  long  oblique  streaks  of  rain  are  seen  on  the 
horizon.  We  begin  to  meet  a  few  country  women  with 
gold  bands  round  their  heads,  a  veil  over  the  band,  a  hat 
on  that,  a  bunch  of  flowers  on  the  hat,  and  broad  floating 
ribbons;  also  some  carriages  of  the  antique  form  of  the 
time  of  Louis  XV.,  with  gilded  bodies,  adorned  with 
sculpture  and  small  mirrors ;  peasants  in  large  black  coats 
and  white  wooden  shoes ;  boys  with  stockings  of  every 
color  of  the  rainbow.  We  arrive  at  another  village,  like 
the  first,  and  getting  into  a  carriage,  go  on  in  that  way. 
A  fine  cold  rain  wets  and  chills  us  to  the  bone.  Wrapped 
in  our  dripping  blankets,  we  reach  the  border  of  a  broad 
canal;  a  man  comes  out  of  a  hut,  runs  our  vehicle  upon 
a  raft,  and  ferries  us  over  to  the  other  side.  The  car- 
riage goes  down  a  wide  road,  and  we  are  at  the  bottom 
of  the  old  lake  of  Harlem,  the  horse  trotting  where 
fish  once  glided,  and  our  coachman  smoking  where  ship- 
wrecked men  breathed  their  last  and  naval  battles  were 
fought.  We  catch  glimpses  of  canals,  villages,  culti- 
vated fields — a  new  world,  where  thirty  vears  ago  there 


172  MOLL  AND. 

was  a  waste  of  waters.  The  rain  ceased,  aud  it  began 
to  snow  with  a  fury  such  as  I  had  never  seen — a  real 
tempest  of  snow,  hard  and  thick,  which  an  impetuous 
wind  blew  straight  in  our  faces.  We  pulled  over  us  the 
oil-cloth  cover,  opened  our  umbrellas,  and  screwed  our- 
selves into  the  smallest  compass,  all  in  vain.  The  wind 
blew  away  all  our  defences,  froze  us  fio.ii  head  to  foot, 
and  whitened  us  with  snow.  After  a  long  time  we  came 
out  of  the  basin  of  the  lake,  reached  a  village,  when  we 
left  the  carriage  and  proceeded  again  on  foot.  On  and  on 
we  went,  past  bridges,  mills,  closed  houses,  solitary  roads, 
immense  fields,  and  not  a  creature  moving.  We  passed 
an  arm  of  the  Rhine,  arrived  at  another  barren  and  silent 
village,  with  here  aud  there  a  dim  face  looking  at  us 
through  the  window-panes,  and  passing  this,  came  out 
upon  the  downs.  The  sky  began  to  grow  dark,  and  I  began 
to  get  anxious.  I  asked  my  companion  where  we  were 
going,  and  he  responded,  "  Wherever  chance  may  lead 
us.^'  '^  But  who  is  this  relative  of  yours  V  I  said, 
"  Where  does  he  live  ?  AVhat  does  he  do  ?  What  is  there 
under  all  this  devilry  ?  He  cannot  be  a  man  like  others. 
Tell  me  where  you  are  taking  me."*^ 

My  companion  made  no  reply,  but  stopped  and  looked 
before  him.  I  looked  also,  and  saw  far  of£  something 
that  resembled  a  house,  alone  in  the  midst  of  a  desert, 
and  half  hidden  by  a  rise  in  the  grouu  d.  We  hastened 
our  steps,  the  house  appearing  and  disappearing  before  us 
like  a  shadow.  Around  it  were  visible  tall  objects  that 
looked  like  gallows,  but  my  companion  insisted  that  they 
were  frames  for  the  storks^  nests.     When  within  about  a 


TBE  HAGUE,    .  173 

hundred  pnces  we  came  upon  a  long  wooden  water-conduit^ 
which  seemed  to  me  to  be  stamed  with  blood,  but  my 
friend  assured  me  that  it  was  only  painted  red.  The 
house  is  small,  surrounded  by  a  paling ;  the  doors  and 
windows  closed.  "Do  not  go  in  !  ^^  I  cried ;  "  we  can  yet 
turn  back.  There  is  some  witchcraft  in  that  house  ;  take 
care  what  you  do.  Look  up  ;  I  never  saw  so  black  a  sky." 
My  friend  paid  no  heed  to  me,  but  advanced  courageously, 
and  I  follov/ed.  Instead  of  making  for  the  entrance- door, 
he  took  a  short  cut.  A  ferocious  barking  of  dogs  was 
heard.  We  ran,  breaking  our  way  through  a  forest  of 
shrubs^  and  jumping  ov^er  a  low  wrJl,  knocked  at  a 
door.  The  door  opened ;  there  was  no  creature  visible. 
We  mounted  a  small  crooked  staircase,  and  entered 
a  room.  Oh,  pleasant  wonder !  The  solitary,  the  sor- 
cerer, was  a  gay  and  gentle  youth,  and  the  diabolical 
house  a  little  villa,  full  of  conveniences,  warm,  light,  and 
luxurious — a  real  enchanted  palace  in  miniature,  in  which 
our  host  retired  for  a  few  months  of  every  year  to  make 
studies  for  the  fertilisation  of  the  downs. 

We  soon  found  ourselves  seated  at  a  table  sparkling 
with  crystal  and  silver,  on  which  smoked  a  princely  dinner, 
guarded  by  a  small  army  of  gilded  and  emblazoned  bottles. 
The  snow  beat  against  the  windows ;  the  moaning  voices 
of  the  sea  were  heard ;  the  winds  raged  about  the  house, 
which  seemed  like  a  ship  in  the  midst  of  a  tempest.  We 
drank  to  the  fertilisation  of  the  downs,  to  the  conquerors 
of  Atchin,  to  the  prosperity  of  the  colonies.  But  I  still 
had  some  anxieties.  Our  host,  to  call  his  servant,  touched 
a  concealed  knob ;  to   order  his  coachman  to  get  ready 


174  HOLLAND. 

the  carriage,  he  spoke  some  words  into  a  hole  in  the  wall ; 
and  these  proceedings  did  not  please  me. 

'*"  Reassure  me/'  said  I;  '^tell  me  that  this  house  does 
really  exist;  promise  me  that  it  shall  not  vanish,  leaving 
nothing  but  a  hole  in  the  ground,  and  a  smell  of  sulphur 
in  the  air !  Will  you  swear  that  you  say  your  prayers 
every  night  ?  " 

I  cannot  relate  the  extravagant  talk  and  the  laughter 
that  went  on  to  a  late  hour  of  the  night,  accompanied  by 
the  clinking  of  glasses,  and  the  howling  of  the  winds  with- 
out. But  the  moment  of  departure  came  at  last,  and  we 
descended,  to  hide  ourselves  in  a  large  vehicle  and  begin 
our  crossing  of  the  desert.  The  land  was  covered,  with 
snow,  the  white  outlines  of  the  downs  were  drawn  upon  a 
black  and  stormy  sky  ;  the  carriage  rolled  silently  forward 
amid  strange  and  indistinct  forms,  which  succeeded  each 
other  rapidly  in  the  gleam  of  the  lanterns,  and  appeared 
to  melt  one  into  the  other ;  and  in  those  enormous 
solitudes  reigned  a  mortal  silence  that  prevented  speech 
with  us. 

0^  ^C  #1*  #v 

At  last  I  have  seen  winter  in  Holland,  not  as  I  had 
imagined  it  on  leaving  Italy,  because  it  was  very  mild; 
but  still  very  characteristic  of  the  Holland  of  my  dreams. 

In  the  morning  early,  what  first  meets  the  eye  in  the 
white  and  silent  streets  are  the  innumerable  prints  of  the 
wooden  shoes  of  the  children  going  to  school — footsteps 
as  of  elephants,  so  large  are  the  shoes — and  succeeding 
each  other  in  a  straight  line,  plainly  demonstrating  that 
the  scholars  take  the  shortest  way  to  school,  like  sedate 


A  View  of  Old  Schevingen.     {Page  158.) 


T  -'-'^  v^  >r^ 


TEE  EAGUE.  175 

and  zealous  Dutch  children.  Files  of  them  may  be  seen, 
all  wrapped  up  warm,  with  nothing  but  the  point  of  a 
nose  or  the  corner  of  a  book  visible  in  the  shapeless 
bundle,  two  and  two,  or  three  and  three,  or  in  close 
groups  like  bunches  of  asparagus.  The  children  all 
housed,  the  streets  remain  deserted  for  a  time,  for  the 
Hollanders  are  not  early  risers,  especially  in  winter.  You 
may  wander  about  without  meeting  a  soul  or  hearing  the 
least  noise.  The  snow,  among  all  those  red  houses,  seems 
of  a  more  brilliant  whiteness;  and  the  houses,  with  all 
their  raised  points  and  ornaments  relieved  by  a  pure  white 
line,  and  the  carved  wooden  heads  and  images  over  the 
shops  all  decked  seemingly  in  wigs  of  cotton,  and  the 
pendant  chains  and  cords  like  garlands  of  white  flowers, 
present  a  strange  aspect.  On  days  when  it  freezes,  and 
the  sun  shines  bright,  evervthing  sparkles  as  if  sewn  with 
silver  spangles ;  the  ice  accumulated  on  the  edges  of  the 
canals  glows  with  the  colors  of  the  rainbow;  and  the  trees 
glimmer  with  pearls,  like  the  plants  in  the  gardens  of  the 
'^Arabian  Nights.''"'  Then  it  is  pleasant  to  walk  in  the 
forest,  about  sunset,  on  the  hardened  snow  which  creaks 
under  the  foot  like  marble  dust,  in  the  midst  of  white  and 
leafless  branches,  presenting  the  image  of  a  gigantic 
crystallization ;  while  the  alleys  are  illuminated  by  the  red 
rays  of  the  setting  sun,  and  the  shadows  are  azure  and 
violet,  sparkling  with  diamond  dust.  But  nothing  equals 
the  spectacle  of  the  open  country  seen  in  the  morning 
after  a  great  snowstorm  from  the  heights  of  some  tall 
steeple.  Under  a  low  grey  sky  there  lies  an  immense 
Tvhite  plain,  where  there  is  no  trace  of  road  or  path,  or 


]  76  HOLLAND, 

house  or  canal^  but  only  depressions  and  elevationsjeaving 
one  to  divine  vaguely  the  hidden  forms^  as  under  the 
swathing  folds  of  a  great  sheet;  and  the  infinite  white- 
ness is  unstained  unless  by  some  spiralis  of  smoke 
issuing  timidly  here  and  there  from  distant  houses,  as  if 
to  announce  to  anyone  who  is  looking  on  that  even  in 
that  snowy  desert  human  life  still  palpitates. 

But  any  mention  of  winter  in  Holland  would  be  incom- 
plete without  allusion  to  that  which  constitutes  the 
originality  and  principal  character  of  winter-life  'in  that 
country.  Skating  in  Holland  is  not  only  a  delightful 
exercise  but  an  ordinary  wav  of  getting  about.  To  cite 
an  illustrious  example,  evervbody  knows  how  the  Hol- 
landers made  use  of  it  in  the  memorable  siege  of  Harlem. 
In  times  of  hard  frost  the  canals  are  changed  into  roads, 
and  skates  do  the  office  of  boats.  The  peasant  skates  to 
market,  the  laborer  to  his  work,  the  shopkeeper  to  his 
shop  ;  whole  families  go  from  the  country  to  the  city  with 
bag  and  basket  on  their  backs,  or  upon  sleds.  Skating 
is  as  easy  and  natural  to  them  as  walking,  and  they 
do  it  with  a  rapidity  that  makes  them  all  but  invisible. 
In  former  years  bets  were  made  among  the  best  Dutch 
skaters  as  to  which  of  them  could  keep  up  with  the 
railway  train  that  ran  along  the  edge  of  the  canal ;  and 
in  general  the  skater  not  only  kept  even  with  the  train 
but  even  outstripped  it.  There  are  people  who  skate 
from  the  Hague  to  Amsterdam  and  back  in  the  same 
dav ;  university  students,  who  leave  Utrecht  in  the 
morning,  dine  at  Amsterdam,  and  get  back  to  college 
before   night.      The    bet    of   going  from  Amsterdam    to 


THE  HAGUE.  177 

Leyden  in  a  little  more  than  an  hour  has  often  been 
won.  And  it  is  not  only  the  speed  which  is  remarkable, 
but  the  admirable  security  with  which  they  traverse  im- 
mense distances  on  skates.  Many  peasants  skate  from 
one  city  to  another  at  night.  Sometimes  walking  along 
the  canal  you  see  a  human  figure  pass  and  disappear  like 
an  arrow;  it  is  a  peasant  girl  carrying  milk  to  some  house 
in  the  town. 

There  are  also  sleds  or  sledges  of  every  size  and  form ; 
some  pushed  from  behind  by  a  skater,  some  drawn  by 
horses,  some  moved  by  two  iron-shod  sticks  held  in  the 
hands  of  the  person  seated  in  the  sledge;  and  quantities 
of  carriages  and  vehicles  of  different  sorts,  deprived  of 
their  wheels,  and  placed  on  runners,  flying  along  with  all 
the  rapidity  of  the  others.  On  holiday  occasions  even 
the  boats  of  Scheveningen  may  be  seen  sliding  along 
the  streets  of  the  Hague.  Sometimes  vessels,  with  all  sails 
set,  move  on  the  frozen  rivers  with  such  rapidity  that 
persons  on  board  are  obliged  to  cover  their  eyes,  unable 
to  bear  the  dizzy  velocity  of  their  flight. 

The  finest  of  the  festivals  of  Holland  are  held  upon  the  ^ 
ice.  At  Rotterdam,  the  Meuse  becomes  a  place  of  meet- 
ing for  all  sorts  of  diversions.  The  snow  is  swept  off,  so 
that  the  ice  is  as  clean  as  a  pavement  of  crystal ;  cafes, 
eating-houses,  pavilions,  and  small  theatres  rise  on  every 
side;  all  are  illuminated  at  night;  by  day  there  is  a 
throng  of  skaters  of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions.  In 
other  cities,  above  all  in  Friesland,  which  is  the  classic 
land  of  the  art,  there  are  societies  of  skaters  who  in- 
stitute public  trials  of  skill  for  prizes.    Masts  and  banners 


178  HOLLAND. 

are  planted  along  tlie  canals,  stands  and  railings  are  put 
up  j  an  immense  multitude  assembles  from  all  the  vil- 
lages round  about_,  and  the  flower  of  the  citizens  are  on 
the  ground ;  music  sounds ;  the  skaters  are  dressed  in 
peculiar  costumes^  the  women  wearing  pantaloons  ;  there 
are  men^s  races  and  women^s  races,  and  then  men  and 
women  together;  and  the  names  of  the  winners  are  in- 
scribed upon  the  rolls  of  the  society^  and  are  famous  for 
years  after. 

There  are  in  Holland  two  schools  of  skating,  which 
differ  completely  from  each  other  :  the  Dutch  school  and 
the  school  of  Friesland,  each  having  its  peculiar  skate. 
The  Frieslanders,  older  in  the  art,  aim  at  speed  only, 
while  the  Dutch  are  the  more  graceful.  The  former  dart 
forward  in  a  straight  line,  with  the  body  erect  and  rigid, 
and  the  eyes  fixed  on  the  goal  to  be  attained ;  the  Hol- 
lander goes  in  a  zig-zag,  moving  from  right  to  left  and 
from  left  to  right,  with  an  undulatory  motion  of  the  hips. 
The  one  is  an  arrow,  the  other  a  rocket.  The  Dutch 
school  suits  the  women  best.  The  ladies  of  Rotterdam, 
Amsterdam,  and  the  Hague  are  the  most  fascinating 
skaters  in  all  the  United  Provinces.  They  begin  as  babies, 
and  go  on  as  girls  and  wives ;  adding  the  height  of  love- 
liness to  the  apogee  of  art,  and  striking  out  with  the  irons 
of  their  skates  sparks  from  the  ice  that  light  up  many 
a  conflagration.  There  are  ladies  among  them  who  attain 
to  a  high  grade  of  mastery  in  the  art.  Those  who  have 
seen  them  say  that  it  is  impossible  to  imagine  the  grace 
of  the  undulations,  bondings,  dartings,  the  thousand  soft 
and   charming   ways    in  which  they  turn,   and  fly,  and 


THE  HAGUE.  170 

return^  emulating  the  birds  and  butterflies,  and  liow  tlieir 
tranquil  beauty  is  animated  by  it.  But  all  do  not  succeed, 
and  many  do  not  presume  to  show  their  skill  in  public, 
and  some  who,  among  us,  would  obtain  the  prize,  here 
scarcely  attract  attention;  to  such  a  pitch  has  the  art  of 
skating  attained.  It  is  the  same  with  the  men,  who  go 
through  every  sort  of  play  and  prowess ;  some  describing 
on  the  ice  fantastic  figures  or  amorous  words,  others 
making  rapid  pirouettes,  and  then  darting  backwards  for 
a  long  distance  on  one  leg;  others  twisting  and  twining 
in  infinite  dizzy  whirls  within  one  small  space,  bent,  or 
crouching,  or  straight  upright,  like  puppets  moved  by 
springs. 

The  first  day  on  which  the  canals  and  basins  present 
ice  sufficiently  solid  for  skating  is  a  holiday  for  a  Dutch 
city.  Early  skaters  who  have  been  experimenting  at 
sunrise,  spread  the  news;  the  journals  announce  it ;  groups 
of  boys  run  about  the  streets  with  cries  of  joy;  servants, 
of  both  sexes,  ask  leave  to  go  out,  with  the  air  of  people 
resolved  to  rebel  in  case  of  refusal ;  old  ladies  forget 
their  years  and  pains,  and  go  to  the  canals  to  gossip  with 
friends  and  children.  At  the  Hague,  the  basin  in  the 
middle  of  the  city,  near  the  Binnenhof,  is  invaded  by  a 
crowd  of  people  who  elbow  each  other  and  press  and 
mingle  as  if  they  were  all  seized  with  dizziness;  the 
flower  of  the  aristocracy  skates  on  a  basin  in  the  midst 
of  the  wood;  and  there,  altogether  in  the  snow,  glide 
officers,  ladies,  deputies,  students,  old  men,  boys,  and 
sometimes  among  them  the  hereditary  prince,  and  around 
gathers  a  throng  of  spectators;   music  accompanies  the 


180  HOLLAND. 

festival;  and  the  enormous  disc  of  the  sun  of  Ilollnnd;, 
sinking  towards  the  horizon^  sends  them,  through  tlie 
branches  of  gigantic  beeches,  its  dazzling  salutations. 

When  the  snow  is  liard  comes  the  turn  of  the  sledges. 
Every  family  has  one_,  and  at  the  usual  hour  they  come 
out  by  hundreds.  They  fly  by  in  a  long  file^  two  and  three 
together;  some  shaped  like  shells,,  some  like  swans^ 
dragons^  boats^  coaches,  gilded  and  painted  in  different 
colors,  drawn  by  horses  in  magnificent  trappings  of  rich 
furs,  their  heads  ornamented  by  feathers  and  tassels,  and 
their  harness  studded  with  glittering  points ;  and  carry- 
ing ladies  wrapped  in  sables,  marten,  and  the  skin  of  the 
Siberian  fox.  The  horses  toss  their  heads  in  a  cloud  of 
vapor  from  their  bodies,  their  manes  sparkling  with 
frost ;  the  sleighs  leap  forward ;  the  dry  snow  flies  like  a 
silvery  £onm ;  and  the  splendid  pageant  passes  and  dis- 
appears like  a  silent  whirlwind  over  a  field  of  lilies  and 
jasmine.  At  night,  when  they  are  provided  with  torches, 
those  thousands  of  little  flames  chasing  and  crossing  each 
other  through  the  silent  city,  and  throwing  livid  reflec- 
tions upon  the  snow,  present  the  image  of  an  infernal 
battle,  presided  over  from  the  tower  of  the  Binnenhof  by 
the  spectre  of  Philip  II. 

But  alas  1  everything  changes,  even  the  winter,  and 
with  it  the  arts  of  skating  and  sledging.  For  many  years 
past  severe  winters  in  Holland  have  alternated  with 
winters  so  mild,  that  not  only  do  the  rivers  not  freeze 
over,  but  even  the  smaller  canals  in  the  towns.  It  follows 
that  the  skaters,  remaining  too  long  without  practice,  no 
longer  risk  appearing  in    public   when   the    opportunity 


THE  HAGUE.  181 

presents  itself;  and  so  little  by  little  their  numbers 
become  smaller^  and  the  fair  sex  especially  are  gro^ying 
unaccustomed  to  the  ice.  In  the  winter  of  last  year 
(1873)  there  was  very  little  skating;  and  this  year  there 
has  not  been  a  single  competition^  and  not  one  sledge  has 
been  seen.  May  heaven  grant  that  this  deplorable  state  of 
things  may  not  continue,  that  winter  may  return  to  caress 
Holland  with  his  frozen  Polar  beards  paw,  and  that  the 
beautiful  art  of  skating  may  arise   once  more  with  her 

owy  mantle  and  her  crown  of  icicles. 

In  the  meantime  let  me  announce  the  publication  of  a 
work  called  "The  Art  of  Skating'-'  (//  Patinamento), 
upon  which  a  deputy  of  the  States  of  Holland  has  been  at 
work  for  several  years,  a  work  which  will  be  the  history, 
the  epic,  and  the  codex  of  the  art,  and  from  which  all  the 
skaters  of  Europe  and  America,  male  and  female,  can  draw 
instruction  and  inspiration. 

During  all  the  time  that  I  remained  at  the  Hague  I 
frequented  the  principal  club  of  the  city,  composed  of  more 
than  two  thousand  members,  and  occupying  a  pahice  near 
the  Binnenhof ;  and  there  I  made  my  observations  upon 
Dutch  character. 

Besides  the  library,  the  dining-hall,  and  the  card-room, 
there  is  a  conversation  and  readiug  room,  which  is  quite 
full  of  people  from  4  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  until  mid- 
night. There  are  artists,  professors,  merchants,  deputies, 
clerks,  and  officers.  The  greater  part  of  them  go  there 
to  drink  a  small  glass  of  gin  before  dinner,  and  return 
afterwards  for  their  coffee  and  another  comforting  glass 
of  their  favorite  liquor.     They  almost  all  talk,  and  yet 


182  HOLLAND. 

one  "hears  only  a  slight  murmur,  so  that  with  one's  eyes 
shut  one  would  fancy  only  about  a  third  of  the  number 
present.  You  can  make  a  dozen  turns  about  the  room 
without  seeing  an  emphatic  gesture  or  hearing  one  word  a 
little  louder  than  another ;  and  at  ten  paces  distance  from 
the  groups  of  talkers  you  would  not  notice  that  conver- 
sation was  going  on,  but  for  the  motion  of  the  lips.  There 
are  many  corpulent  men  to  be  seen,  with  large  faces, 
whiskerless,  and  with  beards  under  the  chin,  who  converse 
without  lifting  their  eyes  from  the  table,  or  removing 
their  hand  from  their  glass.  It  is  extremely  rare  to  see 
among  all  their  broad  faces  a  fine,  acute  countenance  like 
that  of  Erasmus,  whom  many,  but  not  I,  consider  as  the 
true  Dutch  type. 

The  friend  who  opened  the  doors  of  the  club  to  me, 
presented  me  to  several  of  its  members.  The  diversity 
between  the  Dutch  and  Italian  character  is  shown  par- 
ticularly in  introductions.  More  than  once,  seeing  the 
person  to  whom  I  had  been  presented  make  a  slight 
movement  of  the  head,  and  then  remain  quite  silent,  I 
have  thought  that  my  respected  visage  did  not  suit  his 
taste,  and  have  felt  in  my  heart  an  echo  of  cordial  anti- 
pathy. After  a  little  the  introducer  would  go  away, 
leaving  me  face  to  face  with  my  enemy.  '^Now," 
thought  I,  "  I  will  burst  before  I  speak  a  word  to  him  !  '^ 
But  my  neighbor,  after  a  moment^s  silence,  said  with 
great  gravity  :  ^'  I  hope  that,  if  you  have  no  other  en- 
gagement, you  will  do  me  the  honor  to  dine  with  me  to- 
day.''''  I  was  struck  dumb  with  amazement.  We  dined 
together,  and  my  Amphytrion  coldly  populated  the  table 


TEE  HAGUE.  183 

with  bottles  of  Bordeaux,  Champagne,  and  Hock,  and  we 
did  not  separate  without  my  being  constrained  to  accept 
a  second  invitation.  Others,  of  whom  I  had  asked  infor- 
mation about  various  things,  scarcely  answered  me,  as  if 
to  make  me  understand  that  my  questions  were  importu- 
nate, whilst  I  said  to  myself,  "  Did  ever  anyone  see  such 
an  ill-natured  person  !  '^  The  next  day  came  the  answers 
written  out,  clear,  minute,  and  satisfactory  in  a  higher 
degree  than  I  had  ever  hoped  for.  One  evening  I  asked 
a  person  to  look  out  for  me  something  in  that  sea  of 
figures  which  is  called  a  railway  guide.  For  a  moment  he 
made  no  reply,  and  I  was  humiliated.  Then  he  took  the 
book,  put  on  his  glasses,  read,  examined,  made  notes, 
summed  up,  and  subtracted,  with  the  patience  of  a  saint, 
for  the  space  of  half  an  hour;  and  when  he  had  finished, 
gave  me  the  written  reply,  and  put  his  spectacles  into 
their  case  without  a  word. 

Many  of  those  with  whom  I  passed  the  evening  were  in 
the  habit  of  going  home  at  10  o'clock  to  work,  and 
coming  back  to  the  club  at  half  past  11  to  remain  until 
1 ;  and  when  they  had  said  '*"  I  must  go,''  there  was  no 
possibility  of  changing  their  resolution.  When  the  last 
stroke  of  ten  was  sounding,  they  were  already  outside 
the  door;  when  half-past  11  struck  they  were  on  the 
threshold.  It  is  not  surprising  that,  with  this  chrono- 
metrical  regularity,  they  should  find  time  to  do  so  many 
things  and  to  do  them  without  haste ;  or  that  those  who 
had  not  given  themselves  to  study  as  a  means  of  life, 
had  still  read  whole  libraries.  French  literature  in 
particular  they  had  at  the   ends  of  their  fingers.     And 


184  HOLLAND, 

what  is  said  of  literature  can  be  said  with  more  reason  of 
politics.  Holland  is  one  of  the  countries  of  Europe  where 
there  is  the  greatest  affluence  of  foreign  journals,  and 
perhaps  the  one  in  which  the  affairs  of  other  nations  are 
most  discussed.  The  country  is  small  and  tranquil;  the 
news  in  the  papers  is  soon  discussed ;  after  ten  minutes 
the  conversation  jumps  over  the  Rhine  and  roams  over 
Europe.  I  remember  that  I  was  much  struck  by  hearing 
the  recent  fall  of  the  ministry  in  Italy  discussed  as  if  it 
had  been  a  family  affair. 

One  of  my  first  cares  was  to  scan  the  religious  senti- 
ments of  the  people ;  and  I  found,  to  my  astonishment, 
a  great  disorder.  As  a  learned  Hollander  has  lately 
written,  ideas  subversive  of  every  religious  dogma  have 
acquired  a  great  field  in  that  country.  It  would  be  an 
error,  however,  to  believe  that  while  faith  grows  less,  in- 
difference increases.  Those  creatures  who  appeared  so 
monstrous  to  Pascal, — men,  that  is,  who  lived  without 
giving  a  thought  to  religion,  who  are  so  numerous  among 
us  in  Italy, — there  do  not  exist.  The  religious  qnestion, 
which  is  with  us  only  a  question,  is  there  a  battle,  in 
wnich  everyone  brandishes  his  weapon.  Every  class  of 
society,  men  and  women,  old  and  young,  occupy  them- 
selves with  theology,  and  follow  the  controversies  of  the 
doctors,  devouring  a  prodigious  number  of  writings  on 
religious  polemics.  This  tendency  of  the  country  is 
naiiifested  even  in  Parliament,  where  it  sometimes  happens 
that  the  members  attack  each  other  with  Biblical  cita- 
tions, read  in  Hebrew,  translated  and  commentated,  and 
the  discussion  degenerates  into  a  theological  disquisition, 


TEE  EAGUE,  185 

All  this  goes  on,  however,  iu  the  mind  rather  than  in 
the  heart ;  passion  has  no  part  in  it ;  and  the  proof  of  it 
is  til  at  Holland,  which,  of  all  European  countries,  has  the 
greatest  number  of  religious  sects,  is  also  the  country  in 
which  the  sects  agree  best,  and  where  the  greatest  tolerance 
reigns.  If  this  were  not  so,  the  Catholic  party  would  not 
have  made  so  much  way  as  it  has  made,  protected  in  the 
beginning  by  the  Liberal  party  against  the  only  intolerant 
sect  in  the  country — the  orthodox  Calvinists. 

I  did  not  know  any  orthodox  Calviuists,  to  my  great 
regret.  I  never  believed  what  I  have  heard  as  to  their 
extravagant  ideas ;  that  there  are  ladies,  for  instance,  who 
hide  the  legs  of  their  tables  lest  they  should  remind 
visitors  of  the  legs  of  their  hostess.  Eut  it  is  undeniable 
that  they  do  live  with  extreme  austerity.  Many  never 
put  foot  in  a  theatre,  a  ball-room,  or  even  a  concert-room. 
There  are  families  who  eat  cold  meat  on  Sundays  rather 
than  allow  the  cook  to  transgress  the  law  of  rest.  In 
many  houses  the  master  reads  the  Bible  every  morning 
in  the  presence  of  his  household,  and  all  pray  together. 
For  the  rest,  this  sect  of  orthodox  Calvinists,  which  has 
almost  all  its  proselytes  among  the  aristocracy  and  the 
peasantry,  exercises  no  great  influence  on  the  country,  as 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  the  Parliament  it  is  inferior 
in  number  to  the  Catholics,  and  can  do  nothing  without 
them. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  theatre.  At  the  Hague,  as  in  the 
other  cities  of  Holland,  there  are  no  great  theatres,  and 
no  great  spectacles.  For  the  most  part  they  represent 
operas  of  German  music,   sung  by  foreign  singerSj  and 


1S6  HOLLAND. 

Frencli  comedies  and  operettes.  Concerts  are  much  in 
fashion.  In  this,  Holland  is  faithful  to  her  traditions, 
since  it  has  been  noted,  and  Guicciardini  also  mentions 
it,  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  her  musicians  were  sought 
for  by  all  the  courts  of  Christendom.  It  was  also  sa^d 
that  the  Hollanders  were  very  clever  at  singing  in  chorus. 
And  great,  indeed,  must  be  the  pleasure  which  they  take 
in  singing  together,  if  it  is  proportionate  to  the  aversion 
they  seem  to  have  to  singing  alone,  for  I  do  not  remem- 
ber to  have  heard  in  any  Dutch  town,  at  any  hour  of 
the  night  or  day,  a  voice  humming  a  tune  in  the  streets. 

I  have  spoken  of  Frencli  comedy  and  opera.  At  the 
Hague,  not  only  the  public  entertainments,  but  all  public 
life,  is  almost  entirely  French.  Hotterdam  has  the  Eng- 
lish stamp,  Amsterdam  the  German,  and  the  Hague  has 
the  Parisian  stamp ;  so  that  it  is  just  to  say  that  the 
people  of  the  great  Dutch  cities  unite  and  temper  the 
qualities  and  defects  of  the  three  neighboring  nations. 
At  the  Hague,  in  many  families  of  the  higher  society, 
French  is  always  spoken;  in  others  they  affect  Frenchified 
ways,  as  in  some  cities  of  northern  Italy ;  the  addresses 
of  letters  are  generally  written  in  French ;  there  is,  in 
short,  a  portion  of  society,  not  a  rare  thing  in  small 
countries,  who  display  rather  ostentatiously  a  certain 
contempt  for  the  language,  literature,  and  art  of  their 
native  country,  and  pay  court  to  an  adopted  country 
beyond  the  Ehine  and  the  Meuse.  Sympathies,  however, 
are  divided.  The  elegant  and  fashionable  set  lean  to- 
wards France,  the  learned  ones  towards  Germany,  and  the 
mercantile   class  towards    England,      The  sympathy  for 


THE  HAGUE.  187 

Prance  decreased  after  the  Commune.  Against  Germany 
a  secret  animosity  was  born  and  is  still  fermenting,  gene- 
rated by  the  fear*that  her  conqnering  gaze  might  soon  be 
turned  on  Holland ;  but  it  is  tempered  by  the  common 
interest  against  Catholic  clericalism. 

V\  hen  it  is  said  that  the  Hague  is  a  half  French  city^  it 
is  understood  that  appearance  only  is  meant.  At  bottom 
the  Dutch  character  predominates.  Although  it  is  rich^ 
elegant,  and  gay,  it  is  not  a  city  of  scandals,  or  evil 
speaking,  or  dissipation,  or  duelling.  The  life  in  it,  how- 
ever, is  more  varied  and  animated  than  that  in  the  other 
Dutch  cities,  and  somewhat  less  tranquil.  The  duels 
which  occur  at  the  Hague  can  be  counted  on  the .  five 
finders  of  the  hand  from  ten  vears  to  ten  years,  and  in 
those  few  an  officer  is  generally  the  cause.  Nevertheless, 
to  show  how  potent  is  still  in  Holland  the  ferocious  preju- 
dice, as  Rousseau  says, "  that  honor  dwells  on  the  point  of 
the  sword,''  I  recall  a  discussion  among  some  Dutch 
gentlemen,  brought  about  by  a  question  of  mine.  When 
I  asked  whether  public  opinion  in  Holland  was  hostile  to 
duelling,  they  answered  with  one  voice  *'  Very  hostile  '^ ; 
but  when  I  wished  to  know  if  a  young  man  in  good 
society,  who  should  refuse  a  challenge,  would  be  uni- 
versally praised,  treated  by  all  with  the  same  respect  and 
attention  as  before,  sustained,  in  short,  in  public  opinion, 
so  as  never  to  repent  of  his  conduct,  then  the  discussion 
began.  One  weakly  answered  Yes,  another  resolutely 
No,  but  the  majority  said  No.  From  which,  I  think,  I 
may  conclude  that  if  duelling  is  not  frequent  in  Holland, 
it  is  not,  as  I  had  thought,  because  of  the  universal  and 


IS8  .  HOLLAND. 

absolute  contempt  for  the  ferocious  prejudice^  but  rather 
from  the  rarity  of  cases  in  which  two  citizens  allow  them- 
selves to  be  driven  by  passion  to  the  arbitrament  of  arras, 
which  depends  rather  upon  nature  than  education.  In 
public  discussion,  or  in  very  violent  private  argument, 
personalities  are  rare ;  and  in  the  Parliamentary  battles, 
which  are  sometimes  very  hot,  the  members  are  dryly  im- 
pertinent, but  calmly,  and  without  noise ;  impertinence, 
I  may  say,  more  in  facts,  Vv^hich  wounds  silently,  than  in 
words. 

In  the  conversations  at  the  club,  I  remarked  that  no 
one  talked  for  the  sake  of  talking.  When  anyone  opened 
his  mouth  it  was  to  ask  a  question,  or  to  give  a  piece  of 
news,  or  to  make  an  observation.  That  art  of  making  a 
period  of  every  idea,  a  story  of  every  fact,  a  question  of 
every  trifle,  in  which  Italians,  French,  and  Spanish  are 
masters,  is  completely  unknown  to  them.  Conversation 
is  not  an  exchange  of  sounds,  but  a  commerce  in  things, 
and  no  one  makes  the  slightest  effort  to  appear  learned, 
or  eloquent,  or  acute.  In  all  the  time  of  my  stay  at  the 
Hague,  I  remember  to  have  heard  only  one  witticism, 
and  that  was  from  a  deputy,  who,  speaking  of  the  alliance 
between  the  ancient  Batavians  and  the  Romans,  said : 
'^  We  have  always  been  friends  with  the  constituted  autho- 
rities.''^ And  yet  the  Dutch  language  lends  itself  to  puns ; 
in  proof  of  which  I  have  heard  cited  the  case  of  a  lovely 
foreign  lady,  who,  wishing  to  ask  the  boatman  of  the 
tresekuit  for  a  pillow,  pronounced  the  word  badly  and 
asked  for  a  kiss,  the  two  words  being  nearly  tlie  same  in 
Dutch;  and  had  scarcely  time  to  explain  the  equivoque^ 


TEE  HAGUE.  189 

the   boatman    -wiping   his   lips    with    the    hack    of    his 
hand. 

In  my  stndy  of  the  Dutch  character,  it  did  not  appear 
to  rae  true,  what  I  had  read  in  several  hooks,  that  the 
Hollanders  are  fond  of  talking  about  their  maladies,  and 
that  they  are  avaricious  and  egotistical.  As  to  the  first 
accusation,  they  deride  the  Germans  for  this  very  defect. 
In  support  of  the  second,  the  rather  incredible  fact  has 
been  adduced  that  during  a  naval  battle  "with  the  English 
the  officers  of  the  Dutch  fleet  went  on  board  the  enemv^s 
ships,  which  were  out  of  ammunition,  and  sold  them 
powder  and  projectiles  at  exorbitant  prices;  after  which 
the  battle  recommenced.  Against  this  accusation  of 
avarice  stand  the  facts  of  the  wealth  and  ease  of  the 
citizens,  and  the  large  sums  spent  in  books  aud  pictures; 
and  still  more  in  large  beneficence,  in  which  Dutch  society 
is  incontestably  the  first  in  Europe.  And  it  is  not  official 
beneficence  which  in  any  way  receives  its  impulse  from 
the  Government,  but  spontaneous,  and  very  liberal,  exer- 
cised by  a  large  and  powerful  community  which  founds 
innumerable  institutes,  schools,  prizes,  libraries,  popular 
meetings  ;  which  aids  and  precedes  the  Government  in  the 
work  of  public  instruction  ;  which  extends  its  wings  from 
the  great  city  to  the  humblest  village,  covering  all  reli- 
gious sects,  all  ages,  all  professions,  and  all  needs;  a 
beneficence,  in  short,  by  virtue  of  which  there  is  not  left 
in  Holland  one  poor  person  without  shelter,  or  an  arm 
without  work.  All  writers  who  have  studied  Holland 
agree  in  saying  that  there  is  perhaps  no  other  state  in 
Europe   in  which   such    copious  alms  descend  from  the 


190  HOLLAND. 

wealthy  to  tlie  needy  classes,  in  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion. 

It  is  not  to  be  said,  however,  that  the  people  of  Hol- 
land are  faultless,  for  they  are  not  so,  if  we  are  to  count 
as  faults  the  want  of  those  qualities  which  should  be  like 
the  splendor  and  softness  of  their  virtues.  Their  firmness 
is  sometimes  obstinacy ;  their  probity  has  a  touch  of 
niggardliness ;  in  their  coldness  is  felt  the  absence  of  that 
spontaneity  of  feeling  without  which  it  seems  as  if  there 
could  be  no  affection,  no  generosity,  no  true  greatness  of 
soul.  But  the  better  we  know  them,  the  more  we  hesitate 
to  pronounce  such  judgments^  and  the  more  we  feel  the 
growth  of  sympathy  and  respect  for  them.  Voltaire 
could  say,  on  leaving  Holland,  his  famous  words  :  "  Adieu, 
canaucc,  caiiards  canaille  '^  j  but  when  he  judged  Holland 
seriously,  he  remembered  that  in  her  capital  cities  he 
found  ^*  neither  an  idle  man,  nor  a  poor  man,  nor  a  dissi- 
pated man,  nor  an  insolent  man,"  and  that  he  had  seen 
every  where  "  labor  and  modesty/^  Louis  Napoleon  pro- 
claimed that  in  no  people  of  Europe  were  good  sense  and 
the  sentiments  of  reason  and  justice  innate  as  in  the 
Dutch ;  Descartes  gave  them  the  highest  praise  that  a 
philosopher  can  give  to  a  people,  saying  that  in  no  country 
did  one  enjoy  greater  liberty  than  in  Holland;  Charles  V. 
said  that  they  were  "  the  best  of  su])jects,  but  the  worst  of 
slaves."  An  Englishman  wrote  that  the  Hollanders 
inspire  an  esteem  that  never  reaches  to  affection.  Perhaps 
he  did  not  esteem  them  enough. 

I  do  not  conceal  that  among  the  causes  of  my  sympathy 
is  that  of  having  found  that  Italy  is  much  better  known 


THE  EAGVE.  191 

in  Holland  than  I  had  dared  to  hope.  Not  only  did  tlie 
revolution  in  Italy  find  there  a  favorable  echo,,  as  is 
natural  among  an  independent  people^  free,  and  hostile  to 
the  Papacy ;  but  Italian  men  and  events  of  late  years  are 
not  less  well  known  there  than  those  of  France  and  Ger- 
many. The  principal  journals,  which  have  correspondents 
among  us,  keep  the  country  minutely  informed  as  to 
affairs  in  Italy.  Portraits  of  her  chief  citizens  are  seen 
in  various  places.  Nor  is  literary  intelligence  less  regarded 
than  political  matters.  Leaving  aside  the  facts  that  Italian 
music  was  sung  at  the  courts  of  the  ancient  counts  of 
Holland,  that  in  the  bestxentury  of  Dutch  literature  the 
Italian  tongue  was  held  in  great  honor  among  lettered 
people,  and  that  some  of  the  most  illustrious  poets  of  the' 
time  wrote  letters  and  verses  in  Italian,  or  imitated  our 
pastoral  poetry,  the  Italian  language  is  to  this  day  much 
studied ;  it  is  not  rare  to  find  those  who  speak  it,  and 
still  less  rare  is  it  to  find  our  books  upon  the  tables  of  the 
ladies.  The  "  Divina  Commedia,''^  which  came  much  into 
vogue  after  the  year  1830,  has  two  translations,  both  in 
terza  rima,  one  of  which  is  the  work  of  Hacke  van  Mijn- 
den,  who  consecrated  all  his  life  to  Dante.  The  "  Jeru- 
salem Delivered  "  has  a  translation  by  a  Protestant  pastor. 
Ten  Kate,  and  had  another,  unpublished,  and  now  lost,  by 
Maria  Tesseeschave,  the  poetess  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  intimate  friend  of  the  great  Dutch  poet  Vondel,  who 
advised  and  aided  her  in  the  translation.  Of  the  "  Pastor 
Fido"  there  are  at  least  five  translations  by  different 
authors ;  several  of  the  "  Aminta  '^ ;  and,  to  make  a  leap, 
at  least  four  of  Silvio  Pellico^s  *^  Mie  Prigaoni/'  and  one 


192  HOLLAND. 

very  fine  one  of  the  "  Promessi  Sposi/^  a  rotnance  -which 
few  Hollanders  have  not  read  either  in  their  own  tongue 
or  another.  And  to  cite  yet  one  more  thing  that  regards 
ns,  there  is  a  poem  entitled  ''  Florence,'^  written  for  the 
last  centenary  of  Dante  by  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
of  the  Dutch  poets  of  our  own  day. 

Here  it  becomes  appropriate  to  say  something  of  Dutch 
literature. 

Holland  presents  a  singular  disproportion  between  the 
expansive  force  of  her  political^  scientific,  and  commercial 
life,  and  that  of  her  literarv  life.  While  under  all  other 
forms  the  works  of  the  Hollanders  find  their  way  over  the 
borders  of  their  country,  their  literary  work  remains  cir- 
cumscribed within  its  confines.  With  a  remarkable  ferti- 
lity of  literary  production,  which  renders  the  fact  more 
strange,  Holland  has  not  produced,  as  other  small  countries 
have  done,  a  single  book  which  has  become  European, 
that  is,  if  we  except  the  works  of  Spinoza,  the  one  great 
philosopher  of  his  country,  or  consider  as  Dutch  literature 
the  forgotten  Latin  treatises  of  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam. 
And  vet  if  there  is  a  countrv  where  nature  and  events 
have  offered  subjects  apt  to  inspire  some  of  those  poetic 
works  which  strike  the  imagination  of  every  people,  that 
country  is  Holland.  The  marvellous  transformations  of 
the  soil,  the  immense  inundations,  the  wonderful  maritime 
expeditions,  ought  to  generate  an  original  poem,  powerful 
even  when  deprived  of  its  native  form.  Why  has  it  never 
been  done?  Various  reasons  may  be  adduced.  The 
peculiar  character  of  the  Dutch  mind,  which  sees  every- 
thing on  the  utility  side,  and  often  wishes  to  bend  even 


THE  HAGUK  193 

literature  to  some  practical  purpose ;  a  tendency,  the 
direct  opposite  of  this^  and  perhaps  derived  from  it,  to 
soar  too  much  above  human  nature  in  order  not  to  graze 
the  earth ;  a  certain  natural  circumspection  in  their 
genius,  which  gives  to  reason  a  sovereign  superiority  over 
fancy ;  the  innate  love  of  the  exact  and  the  finished,  pro- 
ducing a  prolixity  in  which  great  ideas  are  diluted;  the 
spirit  of  religious  sectarianism,  which  binds  within  a  nar- 
row circle  minds  that  were  born  to  spread  themselves  over 
a  vast  horizon.  But  neither  these  nor  other  reasons  can  do 
away  with  the  wonder  that  there  should  not  be  in  all 
Dutch  literature  a  writer  who  worthily  represents  before 
the  world  the  greatness  of  his  country ;  a  name  to  place 
between  those  of  Rembrandt  and  Spinoza. 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  say  nothing  of  the  three 
principal  figures  in  that  literature,  two  of  the  seventeenth 
century  and  one  of  the  nineteenth,  three  poets  of  origin- 
ality, and  differing  much  from  each  other,  who  represent 
a  compendium  of  Dutch  poetry :  Vondel,  Catz,  and 
Bilderdijk. 

Vondel  is  the  greatest  of  the  poets  of  Holland.  He 
was  born  in  1587  at  Cologne,  where  his  father,  a  hatter, 
had  fled  from  Antwerp  to  avoid  the  persecutions  of  the 
Spaniards.  While  still  a  child  the  future  poet  returned 
to  his  native  country  in  a  cart,  with  his  father  and  mother 
following  on  foot,  praying  and  reciting  verses  from  the 
Bible.  He  made  his  first  studies  in  Amsterdam.  At 
fifteen  years  of  age  he  already  enjoyed  fame  as  a  poet; 
but  his  most  celebrated  works  date  only  from  16.20.  Up 
to  the   age  of  thirty  he  knew  no  language  but  his  own ; 


194  HOLLAND, 

later  he  learned  French  and  Latin,  and  gave  himself  up 
with  ardour  to  classical  studies;  at  fifty  he  dedicated  him- 
self to  Greek.  His  first  tragedy  (he  was  a  tragic  poet 
principally),,  entitled  "The  Destruction  of  Jerusalem/' 
had  not  much  success.  The  second,  called  "  Palaraede," 
in  which  was  shadowed  forth  the  pitiful  and  terrible  story 
of  Olden-Barneveldt,  the  victim  of  Maurice  of  Orange, 
drew  upon  him  a  criminal  prosecution,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  fled  and  remained  in  hiding  until  the  unex- 
pectedly mild  sentence  condemning  him  to  a  fine  of  three 
hundred  florins  was  pronounced.  In  1627  he  made  a 
voyage  to  Denmark  and  Sweden,  where  he  was  received 
with  honor  by  Gustavus  Adolphus.  Eleven  years  after- 
wards he  inaugurated  the  Amsterdam  theatre  with  a 
national  drama  called  "  Gilbert  d^Amstcl,''''  which  is  still 
represented  once  a  year  in  homage  to  his  memory.  The 
last  years  of  his  life  were  very  unhappy.  The  dissipation 
of  his  son  having  reduced  him  to  penury,  the  poor  old 
man,  weary  of  study  and  worn  with  pain,  was  obliged  to 
ask  for  a  small  employment  in  the  Monte  di  Pieta,  or 
government  pawn-broking  establishment.  A  few  years 
before  his  death  he  embraced  the  Catholic  faith,  and  fired 
by  a  new  inspiration,  he  wrote  his  tragedy  of  "The 
Virgins,^'  and  a  poem  which  is  one  of  the  best  of  his 
works,  entitled  "The  Mysteries  of  the  Altar."  He  died 
very  old,  and  was  buried  in  a  church  at  Amsterdam,  where, 
a  century  later,  a  monument  was  erected  to  his  memory. 
Besides  his  tragedies,  be  wrote  patriotic  war-songs,  and 
others  addressed  to  illustrious  Dutch  sailors,  and  to  Prince 
Frederic  Henry.      But  his  principal  glory  is  the  theatre. 


THE  HAGUE.  195 

An  admirer  of  Greek  tragedy,  lie  preserves  in  his  own 
the  unities,  the  chorus,  the  supernatural,  substituting 
Providence  for  destiny,  demons  and  angels  for  the  aveng- 
ing gods,  and  introducing  the  good  and  bad  genii  of 
Christianity.  Almost  all  his  subjects  are  taken  from  the 
Bible.  His  chef  d^oeuvre  is  the  tragedy  of  "Lucifer/' 
represented  twice  in  spite  of  the  almost  insuperable  diffi- 
culties of  representation,  in  the  theatre  of  Amsterdam, 
and  there  interdicted  by  the  influence  of  the  Protestant 
clergy.  This  tragedy  has  for  its  subject  the  rebellion  of 
Lucifer,  and  for  personages  the  good  and  bad  angels.  As 
in  it,  so  in  others,  there  are  fanciful  descriptions,  full  of 
splendid  imagery,  flashes  of  powerful  eloquence,  fine 
choruses,  vigorous  thoughts,  solemn  phrases,  rich  and 
sounding  verses,  and  here  and  there  flashes  and  sparkles 
of  genius.  On  the  other  side  there  is  a  mysticism  some- 
times obscure  and  cold ;  the  want  of  harmony  between 
the  Christian  idea  and  the  Pagan  form  ;  the  lyric  over- 
powering the  dramatic  ;  good  taste  often  off'ended ;  and 
more  than  all,  an  exaltation  of  thought  and  sentiment, 
which,  aiming  at  the  sublime  and  rising  too  far  above  the 
earth,  leaves  the  human  heart  and  intellect  below.  Never- 
theless, historic  precedence,  originality,  ardent  patriot- 
ism, his  noble,  suff'ering  life,  made  Vondel  great  and 
venerated  in  his  country,  where  he  is  considered  as  the 
most  eminent  personification  of  the  national  genius,  and 
placed  with  aff'ectionate  audacity  by  the  side  of  the  first 
poets  of  other  literatures. 

Vondel  is  the  greatest,  Jacob  Catz  the  purest,  personi- 
fication of  Dutch  genius;   and   not  only  is   he  the  most 


196  HOLLAND. 

popular  of  tlie  poets  of  his  nation,  hut  such  is  his  popu- 
larity, that  it  may  be  affirmed  that  in  no  other  country, 
not  exclusive  of  Cervantes  in  Spain  and  Manzoni  in 
Italy,  is  there  a  writer  more  generally  known  or  more 
constantly  read  than  he ;  and  I  may  add  that  there  is 
not,  perhaps,  another  poet  in  the  world  whose  popularity 
is  more  necessarily  restricted  within  the  confines  of  his 
own  country.  Jacob  Catz  was  born  in  1577,  of  a  patri- 
cian family  in  Brouwershaven,  a  town  in  Zealand.  He 
studied  law,  became  Pensionary  of  Middlebourg,  went  as 
ambassador  to  England,  was  made  Grand  Pensionary  of 
Holland,  and  executing  with  exemplary  zeal  and  rectitude 
these  high  offices,  cultivated  poetry  with  a  loving  spirit. 
In  the  evening,  after  having  treated  of  State  affairs  with 
deputies  from  the  provinces,  he  withdrew  into  his  house, 
and  made  verses.  xVt  seventy-five  years  of  age,  he  asked 
to  be  relieved  of  his  offices,  and  when  the  Stadtholdcr 
announced  to  him  in  honorable  words  that  his  demand 
was  granted,  he  fell  on  his  knees  in  presence  of  the 
assembly  of  the  States,  and  thanked  God  for  having 
always  protected  him  in  the  course  of  his  long  and  labo- 
rious political  life.  A  few  days  afterwards  he  retired  to 
one  of  his  villas,  where  he  continued  to  enjoy  a  tranquil 
and  honoured  old  age,  studying  and  writing  verses,  until 
16G0,  when  he  died,  more  than  eighty  years  old,  wept  by 
all  Holland. 

His  poetry  forms  several  large  volumes.  There  are 
fables,  madrigals,  stories,  and  mythological  tales,  sprinkled 
with  descriptions,  citations,  sentences,  and  precepts ;  full 
of  kindness,  honesty,  and    sweetness,   and    written  with 


THE  HAGUE.  197 

ingenuous  simplicity  and  delicate  wit.      His  volume  is 
the  book  of  national  wisdom,  the  second  Bible  of  the 
Dutch   people^  a  manual  for  the  teaching  of  an  honest 
end  peaceful  life.     He  gives  counsal  to  all ;  to  the  youth 
and  to  the  old  man,  to  the  merchant  as  to  the  prince,  to 
the  mistress  as  to  the  servant,  to  the  rich  man  as  to  the 
mendicant.     He  teaches  how  to  spend,  how  to  spare,  how 
to  keep  a  house,  how  to  govern  a  family,  how  to  educate 
children.    He  is  at  the  same  time  friend,  father,  spiritual 
director,  master,  steward,  physician,  advocate.     He  loves 
modest  nature,  the  gardens,  the  fields,  adores  his  wife; 
he  works,  is  content  with  hiuiself  and  others,  and  desires 
that  all  should  be  as  happy  as  he.     His  poetry  is  found 
in  every  house  beside  the  Bible.     There  is  not  a  peasant's 
hut  where  the  head  of  the  family  does   not  read  some  of 
his  verses  aloud  every  evening.     In  days  of  doubt  and 
sadness  all  seek  and  find  comfort  in.  their  old  poet.     He 
is  the  fire-side  friend,   the    assiduous  companion  of  the 
infirm   or  sick;   over   his    book    the  faces  of  betrothed 
lovers  first  approach  each  other;  his  verses  are  the  first 
to  be  learned  by  the  child,  and  the  last  to  be  pronounced 
by  the   grandfather.     No   poet   was   ever  more  beloved. 
Every  Hollander  smiles  at  the  sound  of  his  name,  and  no 
foreigner  has  been  in  Holland   without  learning  to  pro- 
nounce it  with  sympathy  and  respect. 

The  third,  Bilderdijk,  born  in  1756,  died  in  1831,  was  one 
of  the  most  wonderful  intellects  that  has  ever  appeared  ia 
the  world.  Poet,  historian,  philologist,  critic,  astronomer, 
chemist,  theologian,  antiquarian,  jurisconsult,  draughts- 
man, engraver;  a  restless  man  and  a  wanderer,  capricious^ 


198  HOLLAND. 

violent^  his  life  was  but  an  investigation,  a  transformation, 
a  perpetual  tattle  of  his  vast  genius.   Young,  and  already 
a  famous  pcet,  he  left  poetry,  threw  himself  into  politics, 
emigrated  io  England  with  the   Stadtholder,  and  taught 
in  London  for  a  living.     Tired  of  England,  he  went  to 
Germany  ;  weary  of  German  romanticism,  he  returned  to 
Holland,  where  Louis  Napoleon  loaded  him  with  favours. 
But  Louis  descended  from  the  throne,  and  Napoleon  the 
Great  took  away  BilderdijVs  pension,  and  reduced  him 
to  poverty.     He  asked  for  a  chair  in  the  University  of 
Leyden,  and  was  refused.     Finally,  he  obtained  a  small 
subsidy  from  the  Government,  and  continued  to  write  and 
study  and  combat  up  to  the  last  day   of  his  life.     His 
works  are   composed    of  more    than   thirty  volumes   of 
science,  art,   and  literature.     He  treated   every  kind  of 
subject,  and  succeeded  in  all  except  the  drama.     He  en- 
larged the  field  of  historical  criticism,  writing  one  of  the 
finest  national  histories  that   his  country  possesses.     He 
wrote  a  poem,  "  The  Primitive  World,^^   a  grandiose  and 
obscure  work,  much   admired  in  Holland.      He  treated 
every  kind  of  question,  mingling  strange  paradoxes  and 
luminous  truths.     Finally,   he  raised  the  national  litera- 
ture, which  had  fallen  before  his  time,  and  left  a  phalanx 
of  elect  disciples  who  followed  his   steps  in  politics,   art, 
and  philosophy.      He    excited  more  than  enthusiasm  in 
Holland,  he  excited  fanaticism  ;  and  it  cannot  be  doubted 
that,  after  Vondel,  he  is  the  greatest  poet  of  his  country. 
But  he  was  injured  by  religious  passion,  a  blind  hatred 
against  the  new  ideas,  poetry  made  the  instrument  of  a 
sect,  theology   intermingled  with  everything,  so  that  he 


TEE  HAGUE,  199 

never  rose  into  that  rei^ion  of  serenity  and  freerlom,  out- 
side  of  whicli  genius  gains  no  enduring  victories  or  uni- 
versal acknowledgment. 

About  these  three  poets,  Tvho  have  in  them  the  three 
principal  vices  of  Dutch  literature — to  lose  itself  in  the 
clouds,  or  to  graze  the  earth  too  near,  or  to  be  caught  in 
the  net  of  mysticism — are  grouped  numbers  of  others, 
epic,  comic,  satiric,  lyric,  most  of  them  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  very  few  of  the  eighteenth;  many  of 
whom  enjoy  great  fame  in  Holland,  but  none  of  whom 
stands  out  in  relief  from  the  rest  sufficient  to  draw  the 
attention  of  a  foreigner. 

A  rapid  glance  is  due  to  the  present  day.  That  criti- 
cism, despoiling  Dutch  history  of  the  poetic  veil  in  which 
patriotic  writers  have  dressed  her,  has  conducted  her 
along  the  wider  and  more  fertile  paths  of  justice;  that 
philological  studies  are  held  in  the  highest  honor,  and 
that  almost  all  the  sciences  have  in  Holland  professors  of 
European  fame — are  things  that  no  studious  man  in  Italy 
is  ignorant  of,  and  need  only  to  be  hinted  at. 

Of  literature  properly  so  called,  the  most  flourishing 
kind  is  E/Omance.  Holland  has  had  her  national  romance- 
writer,  her  Walter  Scott,  in  Van  Leunep,  who  died  only  a 
few  years  ago,  and  whose  historical  novels  were  received 
with  enthusiasm  bv  all  classes  of  societv ;  a  most  excellent 
painter  of  costume,  learned,  witty,  a  master  of  description 
and  admirable  in  dialogue;  but  who  is  often  prolix,  and 
makes  use  of  old  artifices,  and  does  not  always  hide 
himself  sufficiently,  while  he  frequently  forces  the  denoue- 
ment of  his  plot.    His  last  novel,  entitled  "  The  Adventures 


200  HOLLAND. 

of  Nicoletta  Zevenster '' — in  which^  representing,  in  a  mas- 
terly manner,  Dutch  society  at  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
tury, he  had  the  audacity  to  describe  an  unnameable  house 
at  the  Hague — was  commented  upon,  discussed,  abused, 
and  lauded  to  the  skies ;  and  the  battle  still  goes  on. 
Other  historical  romances  were  written  by  Schimmel, 
an  emulator  of  VanLeunep;  and  one  Madame  Rosboon 
Toussaint,  a  cultivated  writer,  rich  in  study  and  deep 
genius.  Nevertheless,  historical  romance,  even  in  Hol- 
land, may  be  considered  as  dead.  Better  fortune  attends 
romances  of  manners  and  novels,  in  which  one  Beets  is 
first,  a  poet  and  Protestant  minister,  author  of  a  celebrated 
book  called  the  '^  Dark  Chamber.''  There  is  also  Koetsveld, 
and  some  young  men  of  talent,  who  contend  with  each 
other  in  raising  up  that  persecuting  demon  of  the  litera- 
ture of  the  day — haste. 

Holland  has  also  a  kind  of  romance  quite  her  own, 
which  may  be  called  Indian  romance,  and  which  paints 
the  manners  and  the  life  of  the  people  of  the  colonies; 
and  several  of  this  kind  have  appeared  of  late  years,  which 
have  been  received  with  much  applause  in  the  country, 
and  have  been  translated  into  various  languages ;  among 
others,  "The  Beau  monde  of  Batavia/'  by  Professor  Ten 
Briuck,  a  learned  and  brilliant  writer,  whom  I  wish  I 
could  speak  of  at  greater  length,  in  order  to  attest  in 
some  way  my  gratitude  and  admiration.  But  apropos  of 
Indian  romances,  it  is  interesting  to  note  how,  in  Hol- 
land, you  hear  and  see  at  every  step  something  to  remind 
you  of  her  colonies ;  how  a  ray  of  the  sun  of  India  seems  to 
penetrate  through  her  fogs  and  color  her  life.     Besides 


THE  HAGUE.  201 

the  ships  which  bring  a  breath  of  that  country  into  her 
ports — besides  the  birds^  the  flowers, the  thousand  objects, 
that,  like  scattered  strains  of  distant  music,  bring  to  the 
mind  fancies  of  another  nature  and  another  race — it  is  not 
rare  to  meet  in  the  streets  of  the  Dutch  cities,  in  the 
midst  of  the  white  faces,  visages  bronzed  by  the  sun,  of 
people  born  in  the  colonics,  or  who  have  lived  there  for 
many  years  ;  merchants  who  talk  with  unusual  vivacity 
about  brunettes,  bananas,  groves  of  palms,  and  lakes  em- 
bowered in  vines;  bold  young  men  who  risk  their  lives 
in  the  midst  of  the  savages  of  Borneo  and  Sumatra;  men 
of  science,  men  of  letters,  and  officers,  who  tell  about  the 
worshippers  of  fishes,  or  ambassadors  who  carry  the  heads 
of  the  vanquished  suspended  from  their  girdles,  combats 
between  bulls  and  tigers,  the  furies  of  opium-eaters  or 
multitudes  baptised  with  pomp ;  or  a  thousand  other 
strange  and  wonderful  things,  which  occasion  a  singular 
effect  when  uttered  by  the  cold  natives  of  this  most 
tranquil  land. 

Poetry,  after  having  lost  Da  Costa,  a  disciple  of  Bil- 
derdijk,  and  a  religious  and  enthusiastic  poet,^and  Gene- 
stel,  a  satirical  poet,  who  died  very  young,  has  but  few 
specimens  left  of  the  past  generation,  who  are  mostly 
silent,  or  sing  with  faint  voices.  The  theatre  is  in  a  worse 
condition.  Dutch  actors,  declamatory  and  untrained,  act 
in  general  only  French  or  German  dramas  and  comedies, 
which  are  badly  translated,  and  which  high  society  will 
not  go  to  see.  Dutch  writers  of  talent,  like  Hofdijk, 
Schimrael,  and  the  before-mentioned  Van  Leunep,  wrote 
coniedies  which,  iu  some  respects,  were  admirable,  but  did 


202  HOLLAND. 

not  please  enough  to  keep  the  stage.     Tragedy  is  in  no 
better  condition  than  comedy  or  drama. 

From  what  I  have  said  it  would  appear  that  there  is 
no  great  literary  movement  in  Holland;  but  there  is,  in 
fact,  a  great  deal.  The  quantity  of  books  published  is 
incredible;  and  so  is  the  avidity  with  which  they  are  read. 
Every  city,  every  religious  sect,  every  society  has  its 
review  or  its  journal.  There  is,  besides,  a  flood  of  foreign 
books ;  English  novels  in  every  hand ;  French  works  in 
eight,  ten,  twenty  volumes,  translated  into  the  national 
tongue,  an  admirable  thing  in  a  country  where  every 
educated  person  can  read  them  in  the  original,  and  which 
proves  that  it  is  usual  not  only  to  read  them  but  to  buy 
them,  notwithstandiDg  the  fact  that  books  in  Holland  are 
very  dear.  But  it  is  precisely  this  superabundance  of 
publications,  and  this  rage  for  reading,  which  injures 
literature.  Authors,  in  order  to  satisfy  the  impatient 
curiosity  of  the  public,  write  too  fast,  and  the  mania  for 
foreign  reading  suffocates  and  corrupts  the  national  genius. 
Nevertheless,  Dutch  literature  has  still  a  title  to  the 
gratitude  of  the  country ;  it  is  fallen  but  not  perverted ; 
it  has  preserved  its  innocence  and  freshness ;  what  it  lacks 
in  fancy,  in  originality,  in  splendor,  is  made  up  in  good 
sense,  in  severe  respect  for  good  taste  and  good  manners, 
in  benevolent  solicitude  for  the  poorer  classes,  in  effica- 
cious works  for  the  promotion  of  beneficence  and  civil 
education.  Other  literatures  are  great  plants  covered 
with  odorous  flowers;  Dutch  literature  is  a  little  tree 
loaded  with  fruit. 

On  the  morning  that  I  left  the  Hague,  the  second  time 


THE  HAGUE.  203 

that  I  was  there,  some  of  my  clearest  friends  accompaniefl 
me  to  the  railway  station.  The  weather  was  rainy.  In 
the  waiting-room  I  thanked  my  kind  hosts  for  the  plea- 
sant welcome  they  had  given  me;  and  as  I  knew  I  should 
not  probably  ever  see  them  again,  I  expressed  my  gra- 
titude in  affectionate  and  melancholy  words,  which  they 
listened  to  in  silence.  One  only  interrupted  me  to  beji 
me  to  be  careful  against  the  dampness.  "  Should  anyone 
belonging  to  you  come  to  Italy,^'  I  continued,  ^^it  would 
give  me  the  opportunity  to  show  my  gratitude.  Promise 
me  that  someone  will  come,  and  I  shall  depart  with  a 
feeling  of  consolation.  I  will  not  go  until  someone  tells 
me  that  he  will  come  to  Italy.^''  They  looked  at  each 
other,  and  one  of  them  answered  faintly,  "Perhaps/"' 
Another  gave  me  the  advice  never  to  change  French  gold 
in  the  shops. 

At  that  moment  the  bell  for  departure  rang  out. 

'^Farewell,  then,^'  I  said,  in  a  slightly  agitated  voice, 
pressing  their  hands;  "until  we  meet  again.  I  shall 
never  forget  the  pleasant  days  I  have  passed  at  the  Hague. 
I  shall  always  remember  you  all  ainong  the  most  agree- 
able memories  of  my  journey  ;  think  of  me  sometimes/^ 
"  Good-bye,"  they  answ^ered,  in  the  same  tone  as  if  they 
expected  to  meet  me  again  next  day.  I  entered  the  car- 
riage with  a  heavy  heart,  and  looked  out  of  the  window 
until  the  train  moved  on;  and  they  stood  there  mute,  im- 
passible, with  their  eyes  fixed  on  mine.  Waving  my  hand 
for  the  last  time,  they  responded  with  a  slight  nod,  and 
disappeared  for  ever  from  my  eyes.  Every  time  I  think 
of  them,  I  see  them  as  they  stood  there,  with  grave  faces 


204  HOLLAND. 

and  fixed  eyes,  and  the  affection  I  feel  for  tliem  has 
something  of  the  austere  and  sad_,  like  their  own  skies^ 
under  which  I  saw  them  for  the  last  time. 


LEYDEN. 


The  country  between  tlie  Hague  and  Leyden  is  all  one 
verdant  plain^  dotted  by  the  vivid  red  of  the  roofs  and 
streaked  by  the  blue  of  the  canals;  with  here  and  there 
groups  of  trees,  windmills^  and  scattered  herds  of  cattle. 
You  move  onwards  and  seem  still  to  be  at  the  same  point, 
gazing  at  the  same  objects.     The  train  glides  on  slowly 
and  almost  noiselessly  through  the  silent  country;  in  the 
carriage  no  one  speaks,  at  the  stations  no  voice  is  heard, 
and   gradually  the  mind  settles  into   a  sort  of  doze,  in 
which  you   forget  where  you  are  and   whither   you  are 
going.     "  And   yet,"*^  says  Diderot,  travelling  in  Holland, 
'*  and  yet  people  do  sleep  in  this  country  !  ^■'     The  remark 
came  often  to  my  lips  as  we  sped  along,  until  I  heard  the 
cry  of ''  Xjeyden !  '^  and  alighted  at  a  station,  silent  and 
solitary  as  a  convent, 

Leyden,  the  antique  Athens  of  the  north,  the  Saragossa 
of  the  Low  Countries,  the  oldest  and  most  illustrious  of 
the   daughters  of  Holland,  is  one  of  those   cities  which 


206  HOLLAND. 

make  you  thoughtful  upon  first  entering  them^  and  are 
remembered  for  a  long  time  afterwards  witli  a  certain 
impression  of  sadness. 

I  had  hardly  arrived  when  the  chill  of  a  dead  city 
seemed  to  fall  upon  me.  The  old  Rhine^  which  crosses 
Leyden,  dividing  it  into  many  islets  joined  together  by 
one  hundred  and  fifty  stone  bridges,  forms  wide  canals 
and  basins  which  contain  no  ship  or  boat_,  and  the  city 
seems  rather  invaded  by  the  waters  than  merely  crossed 
by  them.  The  principal  streets  are  very  broad  and  flanked 
by  rows  of  old  blockhouses  with  the  usual  pointed 
gables,  and  the  few  people  seen  in  the  streets  and  squares 
are  like  the  survivors  of  a  city  depopulated  by  the  plague. 
In  the  smaller  streets  you  walk  upon  long  tracts  of  grass, 
between  honses  with  closed  doors  and  windows,  in  a 
silence  as  profound  as  that  of  those  fabled  cities  where  all 
the  inhabitants  are  sunk  in  a  supernatural  sleep.  You 
pass  over  bridges  overgrown  with  weeds,  and  long  canals 
covered  with  a  green  carpet,  through  small  squares  that 
seem  like  convent  courtyards ;  and  then,  suddenly,  you 
reach  a  broad  thoroughfare,  like  the  streets  of  Paris ; 
from  which  you  again  penetrate  into  a  labyrinth  of 
narrow  alleys.  From  bridge  to  bridge,  from  canal  to 
canal,  from  island  to  island,  you  wander  for  hours  seek- 
ing for  the  life  and  movement  of  the  ancient  Ley  den,  and 
finding  only  solitude,  silence,  and  the  waters  which  reflect 
the  melancholy  majesty  of  the  fallen  city. 

After  a  long  turn,  I  came  out  into  a  vast  square  where 
a  squadron  of  cavalry  was  going  through  its  exercises. 
An  old  cicerone  who  accompanied  me,  stopped  me  under 


LEYDEN.  207 

the  shade  of  a  trce^  and  told  me  that  the  square,  called 
in  Dutch  the  Ruin,  commemorated  a  great  disaster  to  the 
city  of  Leyden.  "  Before  1807/'  he  mumbled  in  broken 
French^  and  in  a  schoolmaster's  tone  peculiar  to  all  Dutch 
ciceroni^  "  this  great  space  was  all  covered  with  houses, 
and  the  canal  that  now  crosses  it  ran  through  the  middle 
of  a  street.  On  the  12th  of  January  1807,  a  ship  laden 
with  gunpowder,  which  lay  here,  blew  up,  and  eight 
hundred  houses  with  several  hundred  people  flew  up  in 
the  air,  and  so  this  square  was  formed.  Among  the  in- 
habitants who  perished  was  the  illustrious  historian  John 
Luzuc_,  who  was  afterwards  buried  in  the  church  of  St. 
Peter,  with  a  fine  inscription ;  and  among  the  houses 
which  flew  up  in  the  air  was  that  of  the  Elzevir  family, 
the  glory  of  Dutch  typography.'^  ^^The  house  of  the 
Elzevirs  !  "  thought  I,  in  agreeable  surprise  ;  and  certain 
bibliomaniacs  whom  I  knew  in  Italy  came  to  my  mind, 
who  would  have  been  but  too  happy  to  press  with  their 
feet  the  ground  which  had  once  sustained  that  illustrious 
house,  whence  had  issued  those  small  marvels  of  typo- 
graphy which  they  sought  for,  dreamed  of,  and  caressed 
with  such  warm  affection ;  those  tiny  books  that  seemed 
stamped  in  adamantine  characters ;  those  models  of  fine- 
ness and  precision,  in  which  a  typographical  error  is  a 
portent  which  duplicates  the  value  of  the  prize  ;  those 
wonders  of  polytype,  of  twists  and  flourishes,  and  tail- 
pieces, which  they  discuss  in  low  voices  and  with  glisten- 
ing eyes ! 

Coming  out  of  the  square  of  Ruin  I  entered  the  Breede 
Straat,  the  broadest  and  longest  of  the  Leyden  streets, 


208  HOLLAND. 

which  crosses  the  city  from  one  end  to  the  other  in  the 
form  of  an  S,  and  arrived  in  front  of  the  City  Hall^  which 
is  one  of  the  most  curious  buildings  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. At  first  sight  it  has  a  theatrical  appearance  and 
contrasts  unpleasantly  with  the  grave  aspect  of  the  city. 
It  is  a  long,  low  building,  of  an  ash  color,  with  a  bare 
fagade,  along  the  top  of  which  runs  a  stone  balustrade, 
ornamented  with  obelisks,  pyramids,  and  aerial  frontis- 
pieces set  off  with  grotesque  statues,  the  whole  forming  a 
sort  of  fantastic  embroidery  around  the  steep  roof.  Op- 
posite to  the  principal  entrance  rises  a  bell-tower  composed 
of  several  stories,  onewitbin  the  other,  giving  it  the  aspect 
of  a  very  tall  kiosk,  with  an  enormous  iron  crown  upon 
the  top  in  form  of  a  reversed  balloon,  surmounted  by  a 
flagstaff.  Above  the  door,  which  is  approached  by  two 
flights  of  steps,  there  is  an  inscription  in  Dutch,  com- 
memorating the  famine  of  1574^  composed  in  one  hundred 
and  thirty-one  letters,  corresponding  to  the  number  of 
days  of  the  duration  of  the  siege  of  Leyden. 

Going  into  the  palace,  I  wandered  from  room  to  room 
without  encountering  a  living  soul  or  hearing  a  sound 
that  indicated  habitation,  until  at  last  I  came  across  an 
usher,  who  placed  himself  at  my  side,  and  making  me 
cross  a  large  room  where  sat  some  clerks,  as  motionless  as 
images,  he  conducted  me  to  the  hall  of  curiosities.  The 
first  object  that  attracted  my  attention  was  a  disjointed 
table,  upon  which,  if  the  tradition  is  true,  the  famous 
tailor,  John  of  Leyden,  worked ;  he  who,  in  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  tnrned  the  country  upside  down, 
as  had  been  done  five  centuries  before  by  Tankelyn,  of 


LEYDEK  209 

obscene  memory ;  that  Jolin  of  Leyden,  the  leader  of  the 
Anabaptists^  M'ho  held  the  city  of  Monster  against  the 
Count  Bishop  of  Waldeck,  and  was  there  elected  king  by 
his  fanatical  partisans ;  that  pious  prophet,  who  had  a 
seraglio  of  women,  and  who  cut  off  the  head  of  one  of 
them  because  she  complained  of  hunger;  that  John  of 
Leyden,  in  short,  who,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  died,  torn 
by  red-hot  irons,  and  whose  body,  enclosed  in  an  iron 
cage  on  the  top  of  a  tower,  was  devoured  by  crows.  He 
did  not  succeed,  however,  in  exciting  the  fanaticism 
which  was  raised  by  Tankelyn,  to  whom  women  prosti- 
tuted themselves  -in  the  sight  of  their  husbands  and 
mothers,  persuaded  that  they  were  doing  what  was  grate- 
ful to  God;  and  men  drank,  as  a  water  of  purification, 
the  water  in  which  he  had  washed  his  filthy  person. 

In  other  rooms  there  are  paintings  by  Plinck,  Francis 
Mieris,  Cornelius  Engelbrechsten,  and  a  "  Last  Judg- 
ment"'^ by  Luca  von  Leyden,  the  patriarch  of  Dutch 
painting,  the  first  who  seized  the  laws  of  aerial  perspec- 
tive, a  valiant  colorist  and  engraver  of  great  fame,  to 
whom,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  will  be  forgiven  in  the  next 
world  the  ignoble  ugliness  of  the  Marys  and  Magdalens, 
the  burlesque  saints  and  convulsive  angels,  with  which  he 
has  peopled  his  canvas.  He  also,  like  almost  all  the 
Dutch  painters,  had  a  most  adventurous  life.  He  tra- 
velled about  Holland  in  a  boat  of  his  own ;  in  every  city 
he  gathered  the  painters  together  at  a  banquet.  He  was, 
or  believed  himself  to  be,  poisoned  by  some  slow  poison 
administered  by  his  rivals.  He  kept  his  bed  for  years,  and 
painted   in  bed   his  chef  d'oeuvre,  "The  Blind    Man  of 

14 


210  HOLLAND. 

Jericho  cured  by  Christ/'  He  died  two  ycLrs  afterwards, 
on  a  day  memorable  for  a  prorligious  heat^  which  killed 
many,  and  produced  much  illness. 

Coming  out  of  the  City  Hall,  I  went  up  to  a  castle 
posted  upon  a  small  hill  which  rises  in  the  midst  of  the 
city,  between  the  two  principal  branches  of  the  E-hine; 
the  most  ancient  part  of  Ley  den.  This  castle,  called  by 
Hollanders  the  '^  Burg,''  is  no  other  than  a  great  round 
tower,  quite  empty,  built,  according  to  some  authorities, 
by  the  Romans;  according  to  others  by  one  Hengist, 
Duke  of  the  Anglo-Saxons;  and  recently  restored  and 
crowned  with  battlements.  The  hill  is  covered  by  tall 
oak  trees,  which  hide  the  tower  and  prevent  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  surrounding  view;  only  here  and  there, 
looking  through  the  branches,  can  glimpses  be  caught  of 
the  red  roofs  of  Leyden,  the  plain  streaked  with  canals, 
the  downs,  and  the  bell- towers  of  the  distant  city. 

On  the  top  of  that  tower,  under  the  shadow  of  the  oaks, 
it  is  usual  for  the  stranger  to  evoke  the  memories  of  that 
siege  which  was  "  the  most  dismal  tragedy  of  modern 
times,"  and  which  seems  to  have  left  an  indelible  trace  of 
badness  upon  the  aspect  of  Leyden. 

In  1573  the  Spaniards,  led  by  Valdez,  laid  siege  to 
Leyden.  In  the  city  there  were  only  some  volunteer  sol- 
diers. The  military  command  was  given  to  Van  der  Voes, 
a  valiant  man,  and  a  Latin  poet  of  some  renown.  Van 
der  Werf  was  burgomaster.  In  brief  time  the  besiegers 
had  constructed  more  than  sixty  forts  in  all  the  places 
where  it  was  possible  to  penetrate  into  the  city  by  sea  or 
land,  and  Leyden  was  completely  isolated.   But  the  people 


LEY  DEN.  211 

of  Lcyden  did  not  lose  heart.  William  of  Orange  liad 
sent  them  word  to  hold  out  for  three  months,  within  which 
time  he  would  succour  them,  for  on  the  fate  of  Lcyden 
depended  that  of  Holland;  and  the  men  of  Lcyden  had 
promised  to  resist  to  the  last  extremity.  Valdez  sent  to 
offer  them  pardon  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Spain,,  if 
they  would  open  their  gates.  They  replied  with  a  Latin 
verse :  '^Fistula  dulce  canit,  volucrem  dum  decipit  anceps/' 
and  began  to  make  sorties  and  to  attack.  Meanwhile, 
within  the  city  provisions  began  to  grow  scarce,  and  the 
circle  of  the  besiegers  grew  tighter  from  day  to  day. 
William  of  Orange,  who  occupied  the  fortress  of  Polder- 
waert,  between  Delft  and  Rotterdam,  seeing  no  other  way 
to  succour  the  city,  conceived  the  design  of  raising  the 
siege  of  Leyden  by  breaking  the  dykes  of  the  Issel  and 
the  Meuse,  and  driving  out  the  Spaniards  by  water,  since 
it  could  not  be  done  by  arms.  This  desperate  design  was 
forthwith  put  in  action.  The  dykes  being  broken  in  sixty 
places,  the  sluice-gates  of  Rotterdam  and  Gonda  were 
opened,  the  sea  began  to  invade  the  land,  and  two  hundred 
barges  were  in  readiness  at  Rotterdam,  at  Deftshaven,  and 
other  points,  to  carry  provisions  into  the  city  as  soon  as 
the  great  rise  of  the  waters  should  take  place  which  comes 
with  the  autumnal  equinox.  The  Spaniards,  startled  at 
the  first  news  of  the  inundation,  were  reassured  when  they 
understood  the  purpose  of  the  Hollanders,  holding  it  cer- 
tain that  the  city  must  surrender  before  the  waters  could 
arrive  at  the  first  fortifications,  and  pushed  on  the  siege 
with  redoubled  vigor.  In  the  meantime,  the  people  of 
Leyden,  who  began  to  feel  the  pressure  of  famine,  and  to 

14  * 


212  HOLLAND. 

despair  of  snccour  arrivinG^  in  time,  sent  letters  by  means 
of  pigeons  to  William  of  Orange,  who  was  sick  of  fever 
at  Amsterdam,  to  la^^  before  him  the  sad  condition  of  the 
cit}' ;  and  William  responded,  encouraging  them  to  pro- 
tracted resistance,  promising  that  as  soon  as  he  was  better 
he  wonld  fly  in  person  to  their  aid.    The  waters  advanced ; 
the  Spaniards  began  to  abandon  the  lower  fortifications; 
the  inhabitants  o£  Leyden  continually  climbed  the  tower 
to  watch  the  sea,  now  hoping,  now  despairiiig,  and  never 
ceased  to  work  at  the  walls,  to  make  sorties,  and  to  repulse 
attacks.     At  last  the  Prince  of  Orange  got  well,  and  pre- 
parations for  the  deliverance  of  Leyden,  which  during  his 
illness  had  gone  on  but  slowly,  were  now  resumed  with 
vigor.     On  the   1st  of  September  the  people  of  Leyden, 
from  the  top  of  their  tower^  saw  appear  upon  the  distant 
waters  the  first  Dutch  vessels.      It  was  a  small  fleet,  com- 
manded by  Admiral  Boisot,  and  carrying  eight  hundred 
Zealanders,  savage  men,  covered  with  scars,   accustomed 
to  the  sea,  disdainful  of  life,  fierce  in   battle,  wearing  in 
their  caps  a  crescent   on  which  was  inscribed  "  Rather 
Turks  than  Papists,^^  and  forming  a  phalanx  of  strange  and 
'  terrible  aspect,  resolute  to  save  Leyden  or  to  perish  in  the 
waters.     The  ships  advanced   to  within  five  miles  of  the 
city,  against  the  outermost  dyke,  which  was  defended  by 
the  Spaniards.     The  battle  began  with  the  assault  upon 
the  dyke^  which  was  taken,  cut,  the  sea  broke  in,  and  the 
Dutch  vessels  floated  triumphantly  through   the  breach. 
It  was  a  great  step^  but  it  was  only  the  first.     Behind  this 
dyke  there  was   another.     Again  the  battle  began;  the 
second  dyke  was  taken  and   cut,  and  the  fleet  passed  ou. 


LEYDEN.  213 

All  at  once  the  wind  changed  to  the  contrary  quarter,  and 
the  ships  were  constrained  to  stop ;  it  changed  again,  and 
they  went  on ;  it  shifted  once  more,  and  again  the  fleet 
was  arrested. 

Whilst  this  was  going  on,  within  the  city  there  began  to  bo 
a  scarcity  even  of  the  disgusting  animals  on  which  the  citi- 
zens had  been  constrained  to  feed;  people  threw  themselves 
on  the  ground  to  lick  up  the  blood  of  the  slain  ;  women  and 
children  searched  for  scraps  of  food  among  the  refuse  in  the 
streets;  an  epidemic  broke  out;  the  houses  were  full  of 
corpses;  more  than  sixteen  thousand  citizens  died;  every 
hope  of  relief  had  perished.  A  crowd  of  famishing  people 
rushed  to  the  burgomaster  Van  der  WerfF,  and  demanded 
the  surrender  of  the  city  with  loud  cries.  Van  dcr  WerlF 
refused.  The  people  broke  into  threats.  Then  he  made 
a  sign  with  his  hat  that  he  wished  to  speak,  and  in  the 
midst  of  the  general  silence,  cried  :  *^  Citizens  of  Leyden  ! 
I  have  sworn  to  defend  the  city  unto  death,  and  with  the 
help  of  God,  I  will  maintain  my  oath.  It  is  better  to 
die  of  hunger  than  of  shame.  Your  threats  do  not  move 
me.  I  can  die  but  once.  Kill  me,  if  you  will,  and 
satiate  your  hunger  on  my  flesh ;  but  while  I  live  do  njt 
ask  me  to  surrender  Leyden  !  "  The  crowd,  moved  by  his 
words,  dispersed  in  silence,  resigned  to  death,  and  thu 
defence  went  on.  At  last,  on  the  night  of  the  1st  of 
October,  a  violent  tempest  of  wind  burst  out ;  the  sea  rose, 
overwhelmed  the  ruined  dykes,  and  furiously  invaded  tl:e 
land.  At  midnight,  when  the  tempest  was  at  its  height, 
in  profound  darkness,  the  Dutch  fleet  once  more  set  sail. 
Some  Spanish  vessels  came  to  meet  them.     Then  began  a 


214  HOLLAND. 

terrible  battle  among  the  tops  of  trees  and  the  roofs  of 
submerged  houses,  by  the  light  of  the  cannon-flashes.  The 
Spanish  ships  were  boarded  and  sunk;  the  Zealanders 
jumped  overboard  and  pushed  their  vessels  forward  with 
their  shoulders;  the  Spanish  soldiers,  seized  with  terror, 
abandoned  the  forts,  fell  by  hundreds  into  the  sea,  were 
killed  with  daggers  and  grappling-irons,  precipitated  from 
roofs  and  dykes,  destroyed,  dispersed.  One  more  fortress 
remained  in  the  hands  of  Valdez ;  the  besiegers  wavered 
yet  a  little  between  hope  and  despair ;  then  this  fortress 
was  abandoned ;  the  Dutch  fleet  entered  the  city. 

Here  a  horrible  spectacle  awaited  them.  A  population 
of  bony  spectres,  almost  dead  with  hunger,  crowded  the 
banks  of  the  canals,  staggering,  and  falling,  and  stretching 
out  their  arms  towards  the  ships.  The  sailors  began  to 
throw  bread  to  them,  and  then  ensued  among  these  dying 
men  a  desperate  struggle ;  many  were  suffocated ;  others 
died  in  the  act  of  eating;  others  fell  into  the  canals.  The 
first  rage  of  hunger  satisfied,  the  most  crying  need  of 
the  city  provided  for,  citizens,  Zealanders,  sailors,  civic 
guards,  soldiers,  women,  and  children,  and  all  that 
glorious  and  wasted  croAvd  rushed  to  the  cathedral,  where 
they  sang,  in  voices  broken  by  sobs,  a  hymn  of  thanks 
and  praise  to  God. 

The  Prince  of  Orange  received  the  news  of  the  safety 
of  the  city  at  Delft,  in  church,  where  he  was  present  at 
Divine  service.  He  sent  the  message  at  once  to  the 
preacher,  and  the  latter  announced  it  to  the  congregation, 
who  received  it  with  shouts  of  joy.  Although  only  just 
recovered  from  his  illness,  and  the  epidemic  still  raging  at 


LETDEK  215 

Leydcn.  William  would  see  at  once  his  dear  and  valorous 
city.  He  went  there ;  his  entry  was  a  triumph ;  his 
majestic  and  serene  aspect  put  new  heart  into  the  people  ; 
his  words  made  them  forget  all  they  had  suffered.  To 
reward  Leydcn  for  her  heroic  defence,  he  left  her  her 
choice  between  exemption  from  certain  imposts  or  the 
foundation  of  a  university.  Lcyden  chose  the  university. 
The  festival  of  the  inauguration  of  the  university  was 
celebrated  on  the  5th  of  February  1575  with  a  solemn 
procession.  First  came  a  company  of  the  burgher  militia, 
and  five  companies  of  infantry  from  the  garrison  of  Ley- 
den,  behind  whom  came  a  car  drawn  by  four  horses,  in 
which  was  a  woman  dressed  in  white,  who  represented  the 
Gospel,  and  around  the  car  the  four  Evangelists.  Justice, 
with  her  eyes  bandaged,  followed,  carrying  the  scales  and 
sword,  mounted  on  a  unicorn,  and  surrounded  by  Julius, 
Papiiiius,  Ulpius,  and  Tribinius.  After  Justice  came 
Medicine,  on  horseback,  with  a  treatise  in  one  hand  and 
in  the  other  a  garland  of  medicinal  herbs,  and  accompanied 
by  the  four  great  doctors — Ilippocratus,  Galen,  Dioscori- 
dus,  and  Theophrastus.  Minerva  followed,  armed  with 
lance  and  shield,  and  escorted  by  four  horsemen  who 
represented  Plato,  Aristotle,  Cicero,  and  Virgil  Between 
all  these  came  warriors  in  ancient  armour ;  and  the  pro- 
cession ended  with  halberdiers,  mace  -  bearers,  music, 
officials,  the  new  professors,  the  magistrates,  and  a  great 
crowd.  It  passed  slowly  through  streets  strewn  with 
flowers,  under  triumphal  arches,  between  hangings  and 
banners,  until  it  reached  a  small  port  on  the  Rhine, 
where  it  encountered  a  large  vessel,  splendidly  decorated,, 


216  HOLLAND. 

upou  which^  under  a  canopy  of  laurel  and  orange  boughs, 
sat  Apollo^  playing  on  the  lute,  surrounded  by  the  nine 
muses  singing,  and  Neptune,  saviour  of  the  city,  who 
acted  as  helmsman.  The  vessel  approached  the  shore ;  the 
golden-haired  god  and  the  nine  sisters  landed,  and  kissed 
one  after  another  the  new  professors,  saluting  them  with 
Latin  verses ;  after  which  the  procession  went  onwards  to 
the  building  destined  for  the  university,  where  a  professor 
of  theology,  the  Very  Reverend  Gaspar  Kolhas,  pro- 
nounced an  eloquent  inaugural  address,  preceded  by  music 
and  followed  by  a  splendid  banquet. 

How  this  university  answered  to  the  hopes  of  Leyden, 
it  is  superfluous  to  say.  Everybody  knows  how  the  States 
of  Holland  with  their  liberal  offers  drew  learned  men 
from  every  country ;  how  philosophy,  driven  out  of  France, 
took  refuge  there ;  how  Leyden  was  for  a  long  time  the 
securest  citadel  for  all  men  who  were  struggling  for  the 
triumph  of  human  reason ;  how  it  became  at  length 
the  most  famous  school  in  Europe.  The  actual  university 
is  in  an  ancient  convent.  One  cannot  enter  without  a. 
sentiment  of  profound  respect  the  great  hall  of  the 
Academic  Senate,  where  are  seen  the  portraits  of  all  the 
professors  who  have  succeeded  each  other  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  university  up  to  the  present  day.  Among 
them  are  Lipseus,  Vossius,  Heinsius,  Gronovius,  Heras- 
tuhuys,  Kuhiieken,  Valckeneer,  the  great  Scaliger,  whom 
the  States  of  Holland  invited  to  Leyden  through  the 
intervention  of  Henry  IV. ;  the  two  famous  men,  Goma- 
rius  and  Arminius,  who  provoked  the  great  definite  reli- 
gious struggle  of  the  synod  of  Dordrecht ;  the  celebrated 


LEY  BEN,  217 

physician  Boerhaave,  at  whose  lessons  Peter  the  Great 
attended,  to  whom  carae  invalids  from  all  parts  of  Europe, 
and  who  received  a  letter  from  a  Chinese  mandarin  with 
the  simple  direction  :  "  To  the  illustrious  Boerhaave,  phy-* 
sician  in  Europe.'^ 

Now  this  glorious  university,  although  it  still  has  illus- 
trious professors,  is  declining.  Its  students,  who  in  the 
old  time  amounted  to  two  thousand,  are  now  reduced  to 
a  few  hundreds.  The  instruction  which  is  given  there 
cannot  any  more  rival  that  of  the  universities  of  Berlin, 
Munich,  or  Weimar.  The  principal  reason  for  this  deca- 
dence is  to  be  found  in  the  number  of  Dutch  universities. 
Besides  that  at  Ley  den,  there  is  one  at  Utrecht,  one  at 
Groeuingen,  and  an  Athenscum  at  Amsterdam  ;  whence 
it  follows  that  the  libraries,  museums,  and  eminent  pro- 
fessors which  gathered  in  one  city  would  form  an  excellent 
university,  are  now  scattered  about,  and  are  unequal  to 
their  task.  Yet  Holland  is  none  the  less  convinced  that 
one  single  excellent  university  would  serve  her  better  than 
four  inferior  ones.  And  why  is  it  not  done  ?  O  reader, 
all  the  world  is  one  country.  It  is  the  same  in  Hol- 
land as  elsewhere.  The  three  university  towns  cry  out 
together,  "  Let  us  suppress  them  !  ^'  and  each  one  says  to 
the  other,  "  You  begin  ^' ;  and  so  they  go  on. 

But,  although  fallen,  the  Leyden  University  is  still  the 
most  flourishing  in  Holland,  more  especially  for  the  nu- 
merous and  rich  museums  which  belong  to  it.  Neither 
of  these,  however,  nor  of  the  libraries,  nor  of  the  admir- 
able botanic  gardens,  would  it  be  proper  to  treat,  as  I 
should  have  to  do,  lightly  and  hastily.     I  cannot  forget 


218  HOLLAND. 

two  very  curious  ttings  in  tlie  Museum  of  Natural  His- 
torvj  one  ridiculous  and  one  serious.  The  first,  which  is 
in  the  anatomical  cabinet  (one  of  the  richest  in  Europe), 
is  an  orchestra  formed  of  fifty  skeletons  of  very  small 
mice,  some  erect,  some  sitting  on  a  double  row  of  benches, 
all  with  tails  in  the  air,  and  with  violins  and  guitars  in 
their  paws,  music-books  before  them,  cigars  in  their 
mouths,  handkerchiefs  and  snuff-boxes  beside  them;  and 
the  leader  gesticulating  from  an  elevated  seat.  The 
serious  thing  consists  of  some  pieces  of  corroded  wood, 
full  of  holes  like  a  sponge,  fragments  of  piles  and  sluice- 
gates, which  recall  an  immense  danger  run  by  Holland 
towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  A  shell- fish,  a 
species  of  wood-worm,  called  taret,  brought,  it  is  believed, 
by  some  ship  returning  from  the  tropics,  and  multiplying 
with  marvellous  rapidity  in  northern  waters,  had  so  cor- 
roded and  gnawed  the  wood  of  the  dykes,  that  had  it 
gone  on  for  a  short  time  longer  without  discovery,  the 
sea  would  have  broken  in  and  flooded  the  whole  country. 
The  discovery  of  this  danger  threw  Holland  into  dismay, 
the  people  rushed  to  the  churches,  and  the  entire  popula- 
tion set  to  work  ;  they  lined  the  sluice-gates  with  copper, 
they  fortified  the  injured  dykes,  they  strengthened  the 
piles  with  nails,  with  stone,  with  sea-weed,  and  with 
masonry;  and  partly  by  these  means,  but  especially  by 
the  rigor  of  the  climate,  which  destroyed  the  terrible 
animal,  the  horrible  calamity,  feared  at  first  as  irreparable, 
was  avoided.  A  worm  had  made  Holland  tremble; 
triumph  denied  to  the  tempests  of  the  ocean  and  the 
anger  of  Philip  of  Spain. 


LEYDEK  219 

Another  precious  ornament  of  Leyden  is  the  Japanese 
museum  of  Doctor  Sicbold,  a  German  by  birth,  physician 
to  the  Dutch  colony  in  the  Island  of  Detsima ;  who_,  ac- 
cording to  a  romantic  tradition,  first  obtained  permission 
from  the  Emperor  of  Japan  to  enter  his  mysterious 
empire  in  reward  for  having  cured  his  daughter;  or, 
according  to  a  more  credible  tradition,  he  got  into  the 
country  in  disguise,, and  did  not  come  out  again  until 
he  had  paid  for  his  temerity  with  nine  months  of  imprison- 
ment, and  caused  the  loss  of  their  heads  to  some  man- 
darins who  had  aided  him  in  his  enterprise.  However 
this  may  be,  Doctor  SicbokVs  museum,  is,  perhaps,  the 
finest  collection  of  the  kind  that  is  to  be  found  in 
Europe.  An  hour  passed  in  the  rooms  is  a  voyage  to 
Japan.  There  yoa  can  follow  a  Japanese  family  through- 
out the  entire  day ;  from  the  rcoining  toilet  to  the  dinner, 
from  the  theatre  to  visiting,  from  the  city  to  the  coun- 
try. There  are  to  be  found  houses,  temples,  idols,  port- 
able altars,  instruments  of  music,  houseliold  utensils, 
agricultural  tools,  costumes  of  laborers  and  fishermen; 
bronze  candle-sticks  formed  of  a  stork  standing  on  a  tor- 
toise ;  vases,  jewels,  poignards  wrought  with  exquisite 
delicacy ;  birds,  tigers,  rabbits,  bufl'alocs  in  ivory,  repro- 
duced feather  by  feather  and  hair  by  hair,  with  the 
patience  peculiar  to  that  ingenious  and  patient  people. 
Among  the  objects  which  impressed  me  most,  was  a  co- 
lossal head  of  Buddha,  which  at  first  made  me  recoil,  and 
which  is  ever  before  me,  with  its  monstrous  contraction 
and  inexplicable  look  between  laughter,  delinum,  and 
s^)asm,  which  excites  at   once   both  disgust  and  terror. 


220  HOLLAND. 

Behind  this  face  of  Buddha  I  saw  the  puppets  of  the  Java 
theatres,  real  creations  of  a  delirious  brain^  wearying  the 
eye  and  confounding  the  mind ;  kings,  queens,  and  mon- 
strous warriors,  mixtures  of  man,  beast,  and  plant,  with 
arms  ending  in  leaves,  legs  finished  with  ornaments, 
leaves  spreading  into  hands,  breasts  in  a  state  of  vegeta- 
tion, noses  opening  into  flowers,  faces  full  of  holes, 
squinting  eyes,  eyeballs  in  the  back  of  the  neck,  limbs 
turned  hind  part  before,  dragons^  wings.  Sirens^  tails,  hair 
like  snakes,  fishes^  mouths,  elephants'  teeth,  gilded 
wrinkles,  zig-zag  necks,  and  attitudes  which  no  tongue 
can  describe,  nor  any  memory  retain.  Coming  out  of  the 
museum,  I  seemed  to  awaken  from  some  fever-dream  in 
which  I  had  seen  something,  I  knew  not  what,  continually 
changing  with  furious  rapidity  into  some  other  nameless 
thing. 

There  is  nothing  else  to  be  seen  at  Leyden.  The  mill 
where  Rembrandt  was  born  is  no  longer  in  existence. 
Of  the  houses  where  were  born  the  painters  Dow,  Steen, 
Metzu,  Van  Goyen,  and  that  Otto  van  Veen  who  had 
the  honour  and  the  misfortune  to  be  master  to  Peter 
Paul  Rubens,  there  is  no  trace  or  record.  The  castle 
of  Endegeest  may  still  be  seen,  where  Boerhaave  and  Des- 
cartes sojourned,  the  last  for  several  years,  during  which 
his  principal  works  of  philosophy  and  mathematics  were 
written.  The  castle  is  on  the  road  from  Leyden  to  the 
village  of  Katwijk.  where  the  old  Rhine,  uniting  its  various 
branches  into  one,  throws  itself  into  the  sea. 

The  second  time  I  was  at  Leyden  I  went  to  see  the 
death   of  the    marvellous  river.     The   first   time   that   I 


LEYDEN.  221 

crossed  the  old  Rhine,  I  had  stopped  on  the  bridge, 
asking  myself  whether  that  small  and  humble  stream  of 
water  was  really  the  same  river  that  I  had  seen  rushing 
in  thunder  over  the  rocks  at  Schaffhausen,  spreading 
majestically  before  Mayence,  passing  in  triumph  under 
the  fortress  of  Elirenbreitstein,  beating  in  sonorous  ca- 
dence at  the  foot  of  the  Seven  Mountains  ;  reflecting  in 
its  course  Gothic  cathedrals,  princely  castles,  fertile  hills, 
steep  rocks,  famous  ruins,  cities,  groves,  and  gardens ; 
everywhere  covered  with  vessels  of  all  sorts,  and  saluted 
with  music  and  song;  and  thinking  of  these  things,  with 
my  gaze  fixed  upon  the  little  stream  shut  in  between  two 
flat  and  desert  shores,  I  had  repeated^  "  Is  this  that 
Rhine  ? '' 

The  vicissitudes  which  accompany  the  agony  and  death 
of  this  great  river  in  Plolland,  are  such  as  really  to  excite 
a  sense  of  pity,  such  as  is  felt  for  the  misfortunes  and 
inglorious  end  of  a  people  once  powerful  and  happy. 
From  the  neighbourhood  of  Emmerich,  before  reaching 
the  Dutch  frontier,  it  has  lost  all  the  beauty  of  its  banks, 
and  flows  in  great  curves  through  vast  and  ugly  flats, 
which  seem  to  mark  the  approach  to  old  age.  At  Mil- 
lingen  it  runs  entirely  in  the  territory  of  Holland ;  a  little 
farther  on  it  divides.  The  main  branch  shamefully  loses 
its  name,  and  goes  to  throw  itself  into  the  iVfeuse ;  the 
other  branch,  insulted  by  the  title  of  the  Dannerden  canal, 
flows  nearly  to  the  city  of  Arnehm,  when  it  once  more 
divides  into  two  branches.  One  empties  into  the  Gulf  of 
Zuyder-Zee ;  the  other  still  called,  out  of  compassion,  the 
Lower  Rhine,  goes  as  far  as  the  village  of  Durstede,  where 


222  HOLLAND. 

it  divides  for  the  tliird  time ;  a  humiliriion  now  of  old 
date.  One  of  these  branches^  changing  its  name  like  a 
coward;  throws  itself  into  the  IMeuse  near  Rotterdam ;  the 
other  still  called  the  E/hine^  but  with  the  ridiculous  surname 
of  ^^  curved/^  reaches  Utrecht  with  difficulty,  where  for  the 
fourth  time  it  again  divides ;  capricious  as  an  old  man  in 
his  dotage.  One  part,  denying  its  old  name^  drags  itself 
as  far  as  Muiden,  where  it  falls  into  the  Zuyder  Zee; 
the  other,  with  the  name  of  Old  Rhine,  or  simply  the  Old, 
flows  slowly  to  the  city  of  Leyden,  whose  streets  it  crosses 
almost  without  giving  a  sign  of  movement,  and  is  finally 
gathered  into  one  canal  by  which  it  goes  to  its  miserable 
death  in  the  North  Sea, 

But  it  is  not  many  years  since  even  this  pitiful  end 
was  denied  it.  From  the  year  839,  in  which  a  furious 
tempest  had  accumulated  mountains  of  sand  at  its  mouth, 
until  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  the  Old  Rhine 
lost  itself  in  the  sand  before  reaching  the  sea,  and  covered 
a  vast  tract  of  country  with  pools  and  marshes.  Under 
the  reign  of  Louis  Buonaparte  the  waters  were  collected 
into  a  large  canal  protected  by  three  enormous  sluice- 
gates, and  from  that  time  the  Rhine  flows  directly  to  the 
sea.  These  sluices  are  the  greatest  monument  in  Holland 
and,  perhaps,  the  most  admirable  hydraulic  work  in 
Europe.  The  dykes  which  protect  the  mouth  of  the 
canal,  the  walls,  pillars,  and  gates,  present  altogether  the 
aspect  of  a  Cyclopian  fortress,  against  which  it  seems  that 
not  only  that  sea,  but  the  united  forces  of  all  seas, 
must  break  as  against  a  granite  mountain.  When  the 
tide  rises  the  gates  are  closed  to  prevent  the  waters  from 


LEY  DEN,  223 

invading  the  land;  wlien  the  tide  recedes  they  are  opened 
to  give  passage  to  the  waters  of  the  Rhine  which  have 
accumulated  behind  them ;  and  then  a  mass  of  three 
thousand  cubic  feet  of  water  passes  tlirough  them  in  one 
minute.  On  days  when  storms  prevail,,  a  concession  is 
made  to  the  sea,  and  the  most  advanced  of  the  sluice- 
gates is  left  open  ;  and  then  the  furious  billows  rush  into 
the  canal,  like  an  enemy  entering  by  a  breach,  but  they 
break  upon  the  formidable  barrier  of  the  second  gate, 
behind  which  Holland  stands  and  cries,  "Thus  far  shalt 
thou  go,  and  no  farther  !  '^  That  enormous  fortification 
which,  on  a  desert  shore,  defends  a  dying  river  and  a 
fallen  city  from  the  ocean,  has  something  of  solemnity 
which  commands  respect  and  admiration. 

Again  I  look  upon  Leyden  as  T  saw  her  on  the  evening 
of  my  return  from  an  excursion,  dark  and  silent  like  a  de- 
serted city,  and  speak  a  reverent  farewell,  with  my  mind 
already  cheered  by  the  thought  of  Haarlem,  the  city  of 
landscapes  and  flowers. 


224  SOLLAND. 


HAARLEM. 


The  railway  from  Ley  den  to  Haarlem  runs  upon  a  strip 
of  land  comprised  between  the  sea  and  the  bottom  of  that 
great  lake  which  thirty  years  ago  covered  all  the  country 
and  which  lies  between  Haarlem,  Leyden^  and  Amsterdam. 
The  stranger  travelling  on  that  road  with  an  old  map 
printed  before  ]850_,  looks  about  him  and  can  find  no 
lake  of  Haarlem.  This  happened  to  myself;  and  the 
thing  appearing  strange,  I  turned  to  a  neighbor  and 
demanded  an  account  of  the  vanished  lake.  My  fellow 
travellers  laughed,  and  my  question  received  the  follow- 
ing odd  reply  :  "  We  have  drunk  it  up." 

The  story  of  this  wonderful  work  would  be  a  subject 
worthy  of  a  poem. 

The  great  lake  of  Haarlem,  joined  by  the  meeting  of 
four  small  lakes,  and  swelled  by  the  effects  of  inunda- 
tions, had  already,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
a  circuit  of  forty-four  kilometres,  and  was  called  a  sea. 
A  sea  indeed  it   was,  and  a  tempestuous  one,  in  which 


HAARLEM,  225 

fleets  of  seventy  ships  liacl  fought,,  and  many  vessels  had 
been  wrecked.  Thanks  to  the  downs  which  stretched 
along  its  shores,  this  great  mass  of  water  had  not  yet 
been  able  to  join  itself  to  the  North  Sea,  and  thus  con- 
vert Southern  Holland  into  an  island ;  but  on  the  other 
side,  it  threatened  the  country,  the  towns  and  villages, 
and  constrained  the  inliabitants  to  be  continually  on 
the  defensive.  Already  in  1640  a  Dutch  engineer  of  the 
name  of  Leeghwater  had  published  a  book  with  the  design 
of  showing  the  possibility  and  utility  of  draining  this 
dangerous  lake;  but  partly  because  of  the  difficulties 
presented  by  the  method  proposed  by  him,  and  more 
because  the  country  was  then  engaged  in  the  war  with 
Spain,  the  undertaking  found  no  promoters.  The  poli- 
tical events  which  followed  the  peace  of  1648,  and  the 
disastrous  wars  between  France  and  England,  caused 
Leegh water's  project  to  be  forgotten  until  the  beginning 
of  the  present  century.  Finally,  towards  1819,  the  ques- 
tion was  resumed,  and  new  studies  and  new  proposals 
made;  but  the  execution  was  still  deferred,  and,  perhaps, 
would  not  even  yet  have  been  brought  to  a  conclusion,  but 
for  an  unforeseen  event  which  gave  it  the  final  impulse. 
On  the  9th  of  November  1836,  the  waters  of  the  Haar- 
lem sea,  driven  by  a  furious  wind,  overflowed  the  dykes 
and  reached  even  to  the  gates  of  Amsterdam;  and  in 
the  following  month  they  invaded  Leyden  and  all  the 
country  about  the  city.  It  was  the  final  provocation. 
Holland  took  up  the  glove,  and  in  1839  the  States 
General  condemned  the  insolent  sea  to  vanish  from  the 
face  of  the  state.     The  works  were  begun  in  1840.     They 


226  HOLLAND. 

commenced  by  the  construction  of  a  double  dyke  around 
tlie  lake,  and  a  broad  canal  destined  to  receive  the  waters^, 
which  then,  by  other  canals,  would  be  conducted  to  the 
sea.  The  lake  contained  seven  hundred  and  twenty-four 
millions  of  cubic  metres  of  water,  without  counting 
rains  and  filtration  which,  during  the  draining,  were 
found  to  amount  to  thirtv-three  millions  of  cubic  metres 
of  water  per  year.  The  engineers  had  computed  the 
quantity  of  water  which  would  pass  monthly  from  the 
lake  through  the  canal  at  thirty-six  millions  two  hundred 
thousand  cubic  metres.  Three  enormous  steam-engines 
were  sufficient  for  the  work.  One  was  placed  near  Haar- 
lem, another  between  Haarlem  and  Amsterdam,  the  third 
near  Leyden.  This  last  was  named  Leeghwater,  in  honor 
of  the  engineer  who  had  first  proposed  the  scheme.  I 
saw  it,  for  not  only  is  it  preserved,  but  is  still  in  use 
at  times,  to  absorb  and  turn  into  the  canal  the  rain-water 
and  that  of  filtration.  And  so  with  the  other  two,  which 
equal  the  last.  The  engines  are  enclosed  in  large,  round, 
battlemented  towers,  each  one  of  which  is  encircled  by  a 
row  of  windows  with  pointed  arches,  from  which  project 
eleven  great  arms  that,  rising  and  falling  with  majestic 
deliberation,  put  in  motion  as  many  pumps,  capable  of 
raising,  each  in  its  turn,  the  enormous  weight  of  sixty- 
six  cubic  metres  of  water.  The  first  to  be  set  to  work 
was  the  Leeghwater,  on  the  7th  of  June  1849.  The 
other  two  began  soon  after.  From  that  time  the  level 
of  the  lake  sank  one  centimetre  a  day.  After  thirty-nine 
months  of  labor,  the  gigantic  enterprise  was  completed ; 
the  engines  had  absorbed  nine  hundred  and  twenty-four 


HAAULEM.  227 

million  two  liundrccl  and  sixtv-six  thousand  one  hundred 
and  twelve  cubic  metres  of  w'ater  ;  the  Haarlem  sea  was  no 
more.  This  work,  which  cost  seven  million  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty-eight  florins, 
gave  to  Plolland  a  new  province  of  eighteen  thousand 
five  hunl red  hectares  of  land.  Cultivators  came  from  all 
parts  of  Holland.  They  began  by  sowing  colza,  which 
gave  a  wonderful  return ;  and  then  every  kind  of  produce, 
which  succeeded  perfectly  well.  And  as  the  population 
came  from  different  provinces,  there  were  to  be  found  all 
the  different  systems  of  cultivation  rivalling  one  another, 
Zealand,  Brabant,  Friesland,  Groningen,  and  North  Hol- 
land were  there,  and  there  were  to  be  heard  all  the 
dialects  of  the  United  Provinces ;  a  smaller  Holland 
within  Holland. 

As  you  approach  Haarlem  the  villas  and  gardens  become 
more  and  more  numerous;  but  the  city  remains  hidden 
among  trees,  above  which  appears  only  the  tall  bell-tower 
of  the  cathedral,  surmounted  by  an  iron  ornament  in  the 
bulbous  form  of  a  Muscovite  steeple.  Entering  the  town 
you  see  on  every  side  canals,  windmills,  drawbridges, 
fishing-boats,  and  houses  reflected  in  the  water;  and  after 
having  walked  about  a  hundred  paces  you  come  out  into 
a  vast  square,  at  which  you  exclaim,  in  pleased  wonder : 
"Oh,  this  is  really  Holland  !  " 

In  one  corner  is  the  cathedral,  a  bare  and  lofty  edifice, 
surmounted  by  a  roof  in  the  form  of  a  prism,  which  seems 
to  cleave  the  sky  like  the  edge  of  a  sharp  axe.  Opposite 
the  cathedral  rises  the  ancient  City  Hall,  crowned  with 
battlements,  with  a  roof  like  a  ship  bottom  upwards,  and 


228  HOLLAND. 

a  little  balcony  like  a  bird-cage  stuck  over  the  door;  one 
part  of  the  fa9ade  is  hidden  by  two  little  houses  of  stran<i;e 
form^  made  up  of  theatre^  churchy  and  a  castle  of  fire- 
works.    On  the  other  sides  of  the  square  there  are  houses 
in  all  the  most  capricious  styles  of  Dutch  architecture, 
here  and  there  a  little  off  the  perpendicular,  black,  red- 
dish, or  vermilion,  with  their  fronts  studded  with  white 
bosses,  looking  like  so  many  chess-boards,  and  a  row  of 
trees  planted  close  against  the  walls  so  as  to  conceal  all  the 
upper  windows.     Next  the  cathedral  there  is  an  extrava- 
gant edifice,  which  is  for  public  auctions;  a  monument  of 
fantastic  architecture,  half  red  and  half  white,  all  steps, 
obelisks,  pyramids,  bas-reliefs,  and  nameless  ornaments  in 
the  form  of   chandeliers  and   extinguishers   and  twelfth- 
night  cakes,  which  seem  thrown  at  haphazard,   and   all 
together  present  the  effect  of  an   Indian  pagoda  trans- 
formed, with  a  crazy  look  of  Spain  about  it,  and  a  touch 
of  Holland,  the  whole  done  by  an  artist  somewhat  the 
worse  for  gin.     But  the  strangest  thing  is  an  ugly  bronze 
statue  in  the  middle  of  the  square,  with  an  inscription 
which  says  :  "  Laurentius  Johannes  films  Costerus  Typo- 
firaphics    litteris     mobilibus    e    metalle   fusis    inventor." 
"  What !  "  asks  the  ignorant  stranger  on  the  spot ;  "  what 
news  is  this?     I  thought  Gutenberg  was  the  inventor  of 
printing!     What  pretender  have  we  here?     Who  is  this 
Coster  ? 

This  Coster's  name  was  Lawrence  Janszoon,  and  was 
called  Coster  because  he  was  a  sacristan,  or  coster  in 
Dutch.  Tradition  relates  that  this  Coster,  born  in  Haar- 
lem towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth   century,  walking 


HAARLEM.  229 

one  day  in  the  beautiful  grove  that  lies  to  the  south  of  the 
city,  broke  off  a  branch  from   a  tree,  and  to  amuse  his 
children,  cut  with  his  knife  some  letters  in  relief  upon  it, 
from   which   grew   the  first  idea   of  printing.      In   fact, 
returning  home,  he  dipped  these  coarse  wooden  types  in 
ink,  printed  them  on  paper,  made  new  attempts,  perfected 
the  letters,  printed   entire  pages,  and  finally,  after  long 
vicissitudes  of  study,  fatigue,  deceptions,  and  persecutions, 
brought  upon  him  by  copyists   and  elucidators,  he  suc- 
ceeded in   producing   his   chef  d'oeuvre,    which   was   the 
"  Speculum  humanse  salvatlonis,^'  printed  in  German,  in 
double  columns,  and  Gothic  characters.     This  "^Speculum 
humanae   salvationis,^'    which    can   be  seen  in  the  Towi\ 
Hall,  is  partly  printed  with  wooden  immovable  types  and 
partly  with   movable  ones,  and  bears  the  date  of  1440, 
the  most  remote  date  which  can  be  admitted  for  the  inven- 
tion of  moveable  types,  in  which  the  invention  of  printing 
really    consists.      If    we    accept  the   "  Speculum,'' ■*   then 
Gutenberg  is  done  for.     But  the  proofs.     Here  begin  the 
difficulties  for   the  Dutch  inventor.     Among  the  objects 
belonging  to  him  which  are  preserved  in  the  Town  Hall, 
there  are  no  movable  types ;  and  there  is  an  utter  absence 
of  written  documents,  or  any  testimony  whatever  which 
would  prove  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  *^' Speculum,^'  or  at 
least  that  part  of  it  printed  with  movable  types,  is  the 
work  of  Coster.     How  do  the  supporters  of  the  Dutch 
inventor   supply   this    need?      Here   starts   up    another 
legend.     On  Christmas  night  1440,  whilst  Coster,  old  and 
sick,  was  present  at  the  midnight  Mass.  praying  to  God 
for  strength  to  bear  and  to  struggle  against  the  persecu- 


230  HOLLAND. 

tions  of  his  enemies,  one  of  his  workmen — one  o£  those  who 
had  sworn  never  to  betray  the  secret  of  his  invention — 
carried  off  his  instruments^  types^  and  books^  which  poor 
Coster  discovering  on  his  return  home,  he  died  of  grief. 
According  to  the  legend_,  this  sacrilegious  thief  was  Faust 
of  Magonza,  or  the  elder  brother  o£  Gutenberg;  and  this 
is  the  explanation,  both  of  how  the  glory  of  the  invention 
passed  from  Holland  to   Germany,  and  why  the  statue  of 
poor  Coster  has  the  right  to  stand  in  the  square  at  Haar- 
lem, like  an  avenging  spectre.     Upon  tbis  question,  which 
went  on  for  centuries,  an   entire  library  has  been  written 
in  Holland  and   Germany ;  until  a  few  years  ago  it   was 
doubtful  before  which  of  the  statues,  that  at  Haarlem  or 
that  at  Magonza,  the  traveller  should  doff  his  hat.     Ger- 
many rejected  the  pretensions  of  Holland  with  supreme  dis- 
dain; Holland,  although  less  and  less  positive,  obstinately 
ignored  the  pretensions  of  Germany.     But  now  it  appears 
that  the  knot  of  the  question  is  for  ever  undone.  Doctor  Von 
Linde,  a  Dutchman,  has   published  a  book  entitled  "  The 
Legend  of  Coster,^''  after  reading  which,  according  to  the 
Hollanders  themselves,  you  can  put  no  more  faith  in  Coster 
as  the  inventor  of    printing  than  in  Tubal-Cain  as  the 
discoverer  of  iron,  or  Prometheus  the  robber  of  celestial 
fire.      Consequently  the  statue   of   poor  Coster  may  be 
melted  up  into  a  fine  cannon  to  send  against  the  pirates  of 
Sumatra.     But  with  Holland  will  remain  for  ever,  in  the 
field  of  typography,  the  incontestable  glory  of  the  Elze- 
virs, and  the  enviable  honor  of  having  printed  almost  all 
the  great  writers  of  the  age  of  Louis   XIV.,  of  having 
diffused  throughout  Europe  the  French  philosophy  of  the 


HAARLEM.  2^1 

eighteenth  century,  of  having  gathered  np,  defended,  and 
propagated  human  thought,  when  proscribed  by  despotism 
and  denied  bv  fear. 

In  the  City  Hall  there  is  a  picture  gallery,  which  might 
be  called  the  gallery  of  Franz  Hals,  because  the  chief 
works  of  that  great  artist  are  its  principal  ornaments. 
Born,  as  we  know,  at  j\Ialines,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  he  lived  many  years  at  Haarlem,  whilst  land- 
scape art  flourished  there,  and  among  other  illustrious 
Dutch  artists,  Ruysdael,  Winauts,  Brouwer,  and  Cornelius 
Bega  were  all  sojourning  there.  The  principal  room  in 
the  gallery,  which  is  very  large,  is  almost  entirely  occu- 
pied by  his  large  pictures.  As  you  enter  you  experience 
for  a  moment  a  singular  illusion.  You  seem  to  have 
entered  a  banquet-hall,  divided,  as  great  banquets  usually 
are,  into  different  tables  ;  and  at  the  sound  of  your  step 
all  the  guests  have  turned  round  to  look  at  you.  They 
are  all  groups  of  officers  of  archers  and  administrators  of 
the  hospital,  of  life  size,  some  seated,  some  standing, 
about  tables  splendidly  decorated,  and  all  with  faces  turned 
towards  the  spectator,  like  people  in  the  attitude  of  being 
photographed.  On  every  side  are  to  be  seen  broad  faces 
full  of  health  and  good  humor,  with  eyes  fixed  upon  you, 
seeming  to  say,  "  Do  you  know  me  ?  ■''  And  there  is  so 
much  truth  of  expression  in  these  faces,  that  you  really 
feel  as  if  you  knew  them,  as  if  you  had  met  them  many 
times  in  the  streets  of  Ley  den  and  the  Hague.  This 
truth  of  expression,  the  jovial  character  of  the  scene,  the 
rich  and  ample  costumes  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the 
arms,  the  tables,  and  there  being  no  other  pictures  to  lead 


232  HOLLAND, 

the  mind  to  other  timeSj  make  it  seem  that  you  are  really 
looking  at  the  Holland  of  two  hundred  years  ago,  feeling 
the  air  of  the  great  century,  living  in  the  midst  of  those 
strongs  candid,  cordial  people.  You  are  not  in  a  gallery ; 
you  are  present  at  the  representation  of  an  historical  play; 
and  you  would  not  be  astonished  to  see  Maurice  of  Orange 
or  Frederic  Henry  arrive. 

The  most  noteworthy  of  these  pictures  represents  nine- 
teen archers  grouped  around  their  colonel,  and  it  is  one  of 
the  chef  d'oeuvres  of  the  high  Dutch  school,  broad  and 
free  in  design^  warm  and  brilliant  in  color,  worthy  to  be 
placed  beside  the  famous  "  Banquet  of  the  Civic  Guard,^' 
by  Van  der  Heist.  Among  the  pictures  by  other  artists, 
I  remember  one  by  Peter  Brenghel  the  younger,  which  is 
a  comic  illustration  of  more  than  eighty  Flemish  proverbs, 
and  which  I  cannot  think  of  without  a  smile.  But  it  is 
a  picture  which  cannot  be  described  for  many  honest 
reasons. 

In  one  room  of  the  picture  gallery  is  preserved  the 
banner  which  belonged  to  the  famous  heroine  Kanan 
Hasselaer,  the  Joan  d^Arc  of  Haarlem,  who  in  1572 
fought  at  the  head  of  three  hundred  armed  Amazons 
against  the  Spaniards  who  were  besieging  the  city.  The 
defence  of,  Haarlem,  though  not  crowned  with  victory,  was 
not  less  glorious  than  that  of  Ley  den.  The  city  was  sur- 
rounded by  old  walls  and  towers  falling  into  ruin,  and 
had,  besides  the  women's  legion,  only  four  thousand 
armed  defenders.  The  Spaniards,  after  having  cannonaded 
the  walls  for  three  days,  rushed  with  great  confidence  to 
the  assault]    but  repulsed  by  a  rain  of  bullets,  stones. 


HAABLEM.  233 

boiling  oil_,  and  burning  pitch,  were  obliged  to  proceed 
to  lay  siege  to  tlie  place  in  the  regular  manner.  The  city 
was  succoured  by  the  country  people,  men,  women,  and 
children,  who,  sliding  over  the  ice  under  favour  of  the 
December  fogs,  brought  provisions  and  munitions  of  war 
on  sleds.  William  of  Orange,  on  his  side,  did  all  that  was 
in  his  power  to  make  the  Spaniards  raise  the  siege.  But 
fortune  did  not  smile  upon  him.  Three  thousand  Dutch 
soldiers,  sent  forward  first,  were  defeated,  the  prisoners 
were  hung,  and  one  officer  put  to  death  on  a  gibbet  with 
his  head  downwards.  Another  attempt  to  aid  the  city 
had  the  same  result :  the  Spaniards  cut  off  the  head  of  an 
officer  whom  they  had  taken,  and  threw  it  into  the  cit}' 
with  an  insulting  inscription.  The  citizens,  in  tbeir  turn, 
threw  over  into  the  enemy's  camp  a  barrel  containing  the 
heads  of  eleven  Spanish  prisoners,  with  a  note,  which 
said :  "  Ten  heads  are  sent  to  the  Duke  of  Alva  in  payment 
of  his  tax  of  tenths,  with  one  head  more  for  interest.'*' 

The  fighting  became  more  and  more  desperate,  accom- 
panied by  the  explosion  of  mines  and  countermines  in  the 
bosom  of  the  earth.  On  the  28th  of  January  there 
arrived  in  the  city  by  the  lake  of  Haarlem  one  hundred 
and  seventy  sledges  loaded  with  bread  and  powder.  Don 
Frederick,  the  Spanish  captain,  wished  to  raise  the  siege ; 
but  his  father,  the  Duke  of  Alva,  ordered  him  to  persist. 
Finally  the  thaws  began,  and  it  became  difficult  to  get 
supplies  into  the  town;  the  besieged  began  to  feel  the 
pangs  of  hunger.  On  the  25th  of  March  they  made  ? 
sortie,  in  which  they  burned  three  hundred  tents  and  took 
seven  cannon ;  but  this  success  was  rendered  vain  by  a 


234  HOLLAND. 

defeat  sustained  by  the  fleet  of  the  Prince  of  Orange, 
which  had  given  battle  to  the  Spanish  ships  on  Haarlem 
lake.  This  misfortune  threw  the  besieged  into  despair. 
In  the  month  of  June  they  were  reduced  to  all  the  last 
horrors  of  famine.  On  the  Isr  of  July  they  made  a  vain 
attempt  to  come  to  terms  with  the  enemy.  On  the  8th, 
five  thousand  volunteers  sent  by  William  of  Orange  to 
succour  the  city  were  defeated,  and  a  prisoner  was  sent 
into  Haarlem  to  carry  the  news,  with  nose  and  ears  cut 
off.  Then  the  besieged  resolved  to  form  a  serried  legion, 
with  the  women  and  children  in  their  midst,  and  sallv  out 
of  the  city  to  cut  their  way  through  the  enemy^s  camp. 
This  resolution  being  made  known  to  Don  Frederick,  he 
hypocritically  promised  pardon  if  the  city  would  surrender 
without  conditions.  The  city  surrendered,  the  Spaniards 
entered,  massacred  all  the  soldiers  of  the  garrison,  cut  off 
the  heads  of  one  thousand  citizens,  and  tying  two  hundred 
more  in  couples,  threw  them  into  the  lake.  The  Spanish 
army  had  paid  with  twelve  thousand  dead  this  victory 
secured  by  treachery  and  contaminated  by  the  execu- 
tioner. 

From  the  museum  I  went  to  the  cathedral,  with  the 
hope  of  hearing  the  famous  organ  of  Christian  Miiller,  said 
to  be  the  largest  in  the  world,  and  counting  among  its 
glories  those  of  having  been  played  by  the  celebrated 
Handel  and  by  a  boy  of  ten  years  old  whose  name  was 
Mozart.  The  church,  founded  in  the  fifteenth  century,  is 
white  and  bare  like  a  mosque,  and  covered  by  a  high 
vaulted  roof  lined  with  cedar  -  wood,  supported  upon 
twenty-eight   light   columns.      In   one   wall   there   is   a 


HAARLEM.  235 

cannon-ball  which  dates  from  the  siege  of  1573.  In  the 
middle  of  the  church  is  a  monument  consecrated  to  the 
memory  of  the  engineer  Conrad,  the  builder  of  the  slui(,'e- 
gates  of  Katwijk,  and  his  colleague  Brunings,  ^'protectors 
of  Holland  against  the  furies  of  the  sea  and  the  power  of 
the  tempest."  Behind  the  choir  is  buried  the  great  poet 
Bilderdijk.  Suspended  from  one  of  the  arches  hang 
some  small  models  of  ships  of  war,  in  memory  of  the 
fifth  crusade,  which  was  led  by  Count  William  I.  of  Hol- 
land. The  tomb  of  Coster  is  near  the  pulpit.  The  organ, 
supported  by  porphyry  columns,  covers  all  one  wall  from 
roof  to  pavement,  and  has  four  key-boards,  sixty-four 
registers,  and  five  thousand  pipes,  some  of  which  are  twice 
the  height  of  a  Dutch  house.  At  the  moment  there  were 
some  strangers  in  the  church ;  the  organist  arrived 
promptly ;  and  I  could  hear,  as  Victor  Hugo  says,  "  the 
music  of  God^s  cannon.'^  I  am  unable  to  sav,  havin^j  no 
knowledge  of  the  art,  in  what  manner  the  organ  of 
Haarlem  differs  from  that  of  St.  PauPs  in  London,  or 
that  in  the  Fribourg  Cathedral,  or  that  of  the  basilica  of 
Seville.  I  heard  the  usual  trumpet  announcing  the  battle, 
followed  by  a  formidable  tumult  of  cannon,  cries  of  the 
wounded,  and  victorious  strains  that  grew  more  and  more 
distant  until  they  were  lost  among  the  hills  ;  and  then 
arose  a  tranquil  harmony  of  flutes  and  pastoral  melodies, 
which  seemed  to  present  all  the  sweetness  of  country  life, 
when  suddenly  the  lightning  flashed,  the  hurricane  was 
unchained,  the  church  shook  to  its  foundations ;  then  the 
tempest  was  stilled,  little  by  little,  to  the  sound  of  the 
tremulous  and  solemn  chant  of  legions  of  angels  arriving 


236  HOLLAND. 

slowly  from  an  immense  distance,  and  floating  up  among 
the  clouds,  pursued  by  the  curses  of  an  army  of  demons 
growling  from  the  depths  of  the  earth.  The  whole  ended 
with  an  air  from  ^^  La  Fille  de  Madame  Angot,^*  which 
conveyed  that  it  had  been  all  a  joke,  and  that  the  organist 
recommended  himself  to  the  courtesy  of  the  strangers. 

From  the  top  of  the  steeple  the  eye  embraces  all  the 
beautiful  country  about  Haarlem,  sprinkled  with  groves, 
windmills,  and  villages;  the  two  great  canals  that  go  to 
Leyden  and  Amsterdam  can  be  seen,  skimmed  by  long 
files  of  boats  with  sails ;  the  steeples  of  Amsterdam ;  the 
fields  that  cover  what  was  once  the  lake  of  Haarlem ;  the 
village  of  Bloemendal,  surrounded  by  gardens  and  villas  ; 
the  desolate  downs  which  defend  this  terrestrial  paradise 
against  the  tempest ;  and  beyond  the  downs,  the  North 
Sea,  looking  like  a  livid,  luminous  streak  across  the  mists 
of  the  horizon.  Coming  out  of  the  church,  I  chose  a 
street  and  started  on  a  tour  about  the  city. 

Although,  in  many  respects,  Haarlem  resembles  all 
other  Dutch  cities,  still  it  has  a  character  of  its  own  by 
which  it  is  stamped  distinctly  enough  upon  the  memory. 
It  is  a  pretty,  quiet  place,  in  which  the  traveller  feels 
more  acutely  than  in  any  other  the  need  of  his  friend  or 
his  wife  upon  his  arm.  It  is  a  woman's  town.  A  broad 
watercourse,  called  the  Spaarne,  which  serves  as  a  canal  for 
the  drainage  of  the  old  lake  of  Haarlem  and  the  gulf  of 
Zuyder  Zee,  crosses  it,  separating  into  several  branches, 
and  forming  a  canal,  which  encircles  it  like  a  fortress. 
The  internal  canals  are  bordered  bv  trees,  which  almost 
meet  above  them  in  a  vault  of  verdure,  so  that  each  one 


HAARLEM.  237 

seems  a  lakelet  in  a  p^ardcn^  and  the  barges  and  boats  that 
float  along  in  the  shade  seem  there  for  pleasure  rather 
than  for  business.  All  the  streets  are  paved  with  bricks, 
and  the  houses  are  built  of  bricks,  so  that  on  every  side, 
above  and  below,  you  see  the  same  eternal  red  color,  as 
if  the  city  had  been  excavated  out  of  a  mountain  of  red 
jasper:  A  large  number  of  the  houses  have  their  pointed 
facades  cut  into  eight,  ten^  and  even  sixteen  steps,  like  the 
paper  churches  children  cut  out  with  scissors ;  and  there 
are  very  few  mirrors,  nothing  hung  in  the  windows,  and 
signs  over  the  shops  are  rare.  The  streets  are  so  clean 
that  one  hesitates  to  let  fall  the  ashes  of  one's  cigar.  For 
long  distances  you  meet  no  living  soul,  or  only  some  girl 
going  alone  to  school,  with  her  hair  loose  over  her  shoul- 
ders, and  her  books  under  her  arm.  There  is  no  sound  of 
labor,  no  roll  of  cart-wheels,  no  cry  of  itinerant  vendor. 
The  whole  place  has  an  appearance  of  aristocratic  reserve 
and  modest  coquetry,  which  excites  the  curiosity  in  a 
singular  way,  and  makes  one  walk  on  and  on,  insensible 
of  fatigue,  as  if  by  dint  of  walking  about  one  might  dis- 
cover some  pleasant  secret  which  the  whole  city  keeps 
hidden  from  strangers. 

There  is  a  beautiful  grove  of  beeches  at  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  town,  believed  to  be  a  remnant  of  that 
immense  forest  which,  in  ancient  times,  covered  the 
greater  part  of  Holland.  It  is  traversed  by  paths,  and 
has  cafes,  kiosks,  and  society-rooms,  and  has,  in  the 
middle,  a  pretty  park,  stocked  with  deer.  In  one  solitary 
shady  spot  is  placed  a  small  monument  erected  in  1823 
in  honor  of  Lawrence  Coster,  who,  according  to  the  legend, 


238  HOLLAND, 

cut  here  the  famous  hranch  of  a  beech-tree  on  which  he 
engraved  the  first  types.  Wandering  about  among  the 
dark  recesses  of  the  wood  I  met  a  boy,  who  saluted  me 
with  a  gentle  '^  Bon  jour/^  turning  his  face  away ;  I  asked 
my  way  of  a  girl  with  a  gold  band  around  her  head 
and  she  blnshed  as  red  as  a  carnation;  I  requested  a  light 
from  a  peasant  who  was  reading  a  newspaper ;  I  passed  a 
lady  on  horseback,  who  looked  at  me  with  two  light-blue 
eyes,  serene  as  tlie  sky  above  us ;  and  then  returned  to- 
wards the  entrance  of  the  grove,  where  there  is  a  gallery 
of  modern  pictures  about  which  I  feel  no  remorse  in 
being  silent. 

It  is,  however,  well  to  observe,  apropos  of  this  gallery, 
that  of   late    years  Dutch  art    has  made,   under  several 
aspects,  honorable  progress.     The  style  which  is  preferred 
is  still  small  landscapes,  and  in  this  there  is  no  change; 
but  painting  scenes  of  private  life  has  risen  into  higher 
regions.     It  has  left  the  dregs  of  society  for  the  middle 
classes,    and   come  out  of   the  taverns  to  dedicate  itself 
lovingly  to  that  sober,  severe,  and  valorous  people,  the 
fishermen  who  labor  and    suffer  in  silence  on  the  coast 
of  Holland,  from  Helder  to  the  mouths  of  the  Mouse ;  it 
has  forgotten  the  plebeian  orgies  and  dances,  to  represent 
the  sailor  leaving  for  the  herring  fishery,  and  the  wife  on 
the  shore  giving  her  last  farewell  and  crying,   ''  God  be 
with    you  1  ^'  or    the    fisherman    returning  from    a  long 
voyage  to  his  beloved  Scheveningen,  his  children  running 
with  open  arms   to  meet  him  ;  or  the   sea  lashed  by  a 
tempest,  and  the  family  of  the  poor  sailor,  out  on  the 
downs,  and  with  anxious,  tearful  eyes  watching  the  hori- 


EAABLEM.  239 

zon  for  a  black  point  -upon  its  darkness.  Excessive  mi- 
nuteness has  disappeared  ;  painting  has  taken  a  broader, 
freer  manner.  Few  artists  go  to  study  out  of  their  own 
country,  and  those  who  do  lose  their  native  character; 
but  of  those  who  remain,  their  work,  especially  landscape, 
is  still,  as  formerly,  a  faithful  mirror  of  their  country, 
modest  and  original,  and  full  of  sadness,  sweetness,  and 
peace.  Near  tlie  grove  is  the  garden  of  Herr  Koelage, 
the  most  famous  tulip-fancier  in  Holland. 

The  word  '^  tulip ""  recalls  one  of  the  strangest  popular 
follies  that  has  ever  been  seen  in  the  world,  which  showed 
itself   in    Holland    towards    the    middle    of   the    seven- 
teenth century.     The  country  at  that  time  had  reached 
the  height   of  prosperity;   antique  parsimony  had  given 
place  to  luxury ;   the  houses  of  the  wealthy,  very  modest 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  were  transformed  into 
little  palaces ;  velvet,  silk,  and  pearls  replaced  the  patri- 
archal simplicity  of    the   ancient  costume ;   Holland  had 
become    vain,    ambitious,    and   prodigal.      After    having 
filled  their  houses  with  pictures^  hangings,  porcelain,  and 
precious    objects    from  all  the  countries  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  the  rich  merchants  of  the  large  Dutch  cities  began 
to  spend  considerable  sums  in  ornamenting  their  gardens 
with  tulips — the  flower  which  answers  best  to  that  innate 
avidity  for  vivid  colors  which  the  Dutch  people  manifest 
in  so  many  ways.     This  taste  for  tulips  promoted  their 
rapid   cultivation ;    everywhere    gardens    were    laid    out, 
studies   promoted,    new  varieties    of  the  favorite   flower 
sought  for.    In  a  short  time  the  fever  became  general ;   on 
every  side    there  swarmed    unknown  tulips,  of    strange 


240  HOLLAND. 

forms,  and  wonderful  shades  or  combinations  of  colors, 
full  of  contrasts,  caprices,  and  surprises.  Prices  rose  in  a 
marvellous  way  ;  a  new  variegation,  a  new  form,  obtained 
in  those  blessed  leaves  was  an  event,  a  fortune.  Thou- 
sands of  persons  gave  themselves  up  to  the  study  with  the 
fury  of  insanity;  all  over  the  country  nothing  was  talked 
of  but  petals,  bulbs,  colors,  vases,  seeds  The  mania  grew 
to  such  a  pass  that  all  Europe  was  laughing  at  it.  Bnlbs 
of  the  favorite  tulips  of  the  rarer  varieties  rose  to  fabu- 
lous prices;  some  constituted  a  fortune,  like  a  house, 
an  orchard,  or  a  mill ;  one  bulb  was  equivalent  to  a  dowry 
for  the  daughter  of  a  rich  family;  for  one  bulb  were 
given,  in  I  know  not  what  city,  two  carts  of  grain,  four 
carts  of  barley,  four  oxen,  twelve  sheep,  two  casks  of 
wine,  four  casks  of  beer,  a  thousand  pounds  of  cheese,  a 
complete  dress,  and  silver  goblet.  Another  bulb  of  a  tulip 
named  Semper  Augustus  was  bought  at  the  price  of  thir- 
teen thousand  florins.  A  bulb  of  the  Admiral  Enkhuy' 
zen  tulip  cost  two  thousand  dollars.  One  day  there  were 
only  two  bulbs  of  the  Semper  Augustus  left  in  Holland, 
one  at  Amsterdam  and  the  other  at  Haarlem,  and  for 
one  of  them  there  were  offered,  and  refused,  four  thou- 
sand six  hundred  florins,  a  splendid  coach,  and  a  pair 
of  grey  horses  with  beautiful  harness.  Another  offered 
twelve  acres  of  land,  and  he  also  was  refused.  On  the 
registers  of  Alkmaar  it  is  recorded  that  in  1637  there 
were  sold  in  that  city,  at  public  auction,  one  hundred 
and  twenty  tulips  for  the  benefit  of  the  Orphanage,  and 
that  the  sale  produced  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
francs.     Then  they  began  to  trnffic  in  tulips,  as  in  State 


HA  ABLE  HI,  241 

bondg  and  shares.  They  sold  for  enormous  sums  bulbs 
which  they  did  not  possess,  engaging  to  provide  them  for 
a  certain  day;  and  in  this  way  a  traffic  was  carried  on 
for  a  much  larger  number  of  tulips  than  the  whole  of 
Holland  could  furnish.  It  is  related  that  one  Dutch 
town  sold  twenty  millions  of  francs^  worth  of  tulips,  and 
that  an  Amsterdam  merchant  gained  in  this  trade  more 
than  sixty-eight  thousand  florins  in  the  space  of  four 
months.  These  sold  that  which  they  had  not,  and 
those  that  which  they  never  could  have;  the  market 
passed  from  hand  to  hand,  the  differences  were  paid, 
and  the  flowers  for  and  by  which  so  many  people  were 
ruined  or  enriched,  flourished  only  in  the  imasrinations 
of  the  traffickers.  Finally  matters  arrived  at  such  a 
pass  that,  many  buyers  having  refused  to  pay  the 
sums  agreed  upon,  and  contests  and  disorders  following, 
the  Government  decreed  that  these  debts  should  be 
considered  as  ordinary  obligations,  and  that  payment 
should  be  exacted  in  the  usual  legal  manner ;  then  prices 
fell  suddenly,  as  low  as  fifty  florins  for  the  Semper 
Augustus y  and  the  scandalous  traffic  ceased.  Now  the 
culture  of  flowers  is  no  longer  a  mania,  but  is  carried  on 
for  love  of  them,  and  Haarlem  is  the  principal  temple. 
She  still  provides  a  great  part  of  Europe  and  South 
America  with  flowers.  The  city  is  encircled  by  gardens, 
which,  towards  the  end  of  April  and  the  beginning  of 
May,  are  covered  with  myriads  of  tulips,  hyacinths,  car- 
nations, auriculas,  anemones,  ranunculus,  camelias,  prim- 
roses, and  other  flowers,  forming  an  immense  wreath 
about  Haarlem,  from  which  travellers  from  all  parts  of 


242  HOLLAND. 

the  world  gather  a  "bouquet  in  passing.  Of  late  years  the 
hyacinth  has  risen  into  great  honour;  but  the  tulip  is 
still  king  of  the  gardens,  and  Holland's  supreme  affec- 
tion. I  should  have  to  change  my  pen  for  the  brush  of 
Von  Huysem  or  Menendez,  if  I  were  to  attempt  to  de- 
scribe the  pomp  of  their  gorgeous,  luxuriant,  dazzling 
colors,  which,  if  the  sensation  given  to  the  eye  may  be 
likened  to  that  of  the  ear,  might  be  said  to  resemble  a 
shout  of  joyous  laughter  or  a  cry  of  love  in  the  green 
silence  of  the  garden ;  affecting  one  like  the  loud  music 
of  a  festival.  There  are  to  be  seen  the  Duke  of  Toll  tulip, 
the  tulips  called  '^  simple  precocious ''  in  more  than  six 
hundred  varieties  ;  the  "  double  precocious  " ;  the  late 
tulips,  divided  into  unicolored,  fine,  superfine,  and  rec- 
tified j  the  fine,  subdivided  into  violet,  rose,  and  striped ; 
then  the  monsters  or  parrots,  the  hybrids,  the  thieves; 
classified  into  a  thousand  orders  of  nobility  and  elegance ; 
tinted  with  all  the  shades  of  color  conceivable  to  the 
human  mind;  spotted,  speckled,  striped,  edged,  varie- 
gated, with  leaves  fringed,  waved,  festooned;  decorated 
with  gold  and  silver  medals ;  distinguished  by  names  of 
generals,  painters,  birds,  rivers,  poets,  cities,  queens,  and 
a  thousand  loving  and  bold  adjectives,  which  recall  their 
metamorphoses,  their  adventures,  and  their  triumphs,  and 
leave  a  sweet  confusion  in  the  mind  of  beautiful  images 
and  pleasant  thoughts. 

After  this,  I  thought  I  might  leave  for  Amsterdam, 
whither  I  was  impelled  by  an  irresistible  curiosity;  and 
already  I  had  my  foot  upon  the  step  of  the  railway- 
carriage,  and  my  eye  upon  a  snug  corner,  near  the   door. 


HAARLEM.  243 

wlien  I  felt  myself  seized  by  the  skirt  of  my  coat,  and 
turned  to  behold  the  speetre  of  my  courteous  critic  of 
Italy,  who  said,  in  a  reproachful  tone  :  "  But^  the  com- 
merce^ the  trade,  the  establishments  of  Haarlem,  where 
have  you  left  them?'^  ^^Ah,  true,'^  I  replied,  "you 
are  one  of  those  who  desire  description,  guide,  dictionary, 
treatise,  railway  indicator,  and  statistics,  all  in  one  book? 
Well,  I  will  try  and  content  you.  Know,  then,  that  there 
is  in  Haarlem  a  very  rich  museum  of  chemical,  physical, 
optical,  and  hydraulic  instruments,  bequeathed  to  the 
city  by  one  Peter  Taylor  van  dor  Hulst,  with  a  sum  of 
money  destined  to  serve  every  year  for  a  scientific  com- 
petition; that  there  is  also  a  famous  type-foundry  of 
Greek  and  Hebrew  characters ;  that  there  are  several  fine 
cotton  factories  founded  under  the  patronage  of  King 
William  II.;  that  there  are  washing  establishments  famous 
throughout  Holland.^'  At  this  moment  I  heard  the 
whistle  of  the  train.  "One  minute!"  cried  the  critic, 
trying  to  keep  me  back.  "  How  large  are  the  elec- 
tric machines  in  the  Taylor  museum  ?  How  much 
do  the  cotton  factories  produce  yearly  ?  What  kind  of 
soap  is  used  in  the  washing  establishments  ?  "  "  Eh  ! 
leave  me  in  peace,"  I  answered,  shutting  the  door  as 
the  train  began  to  move ;  "  don't  you  know  the  proverb, 
that  you  cannot  bear  the  cross  and  sing?" 

And  now  for  thee,  Amsterdam  of   the  ninety  islands; 
Venice  of  the  north,  queen  of  the  Zuyder  Zee  I 


24A  HOLLAND. 


AMSTERDAM. 


■»0»0»' 


Two  travellers,  one  a  poet  and  the  other  an  engineer^  were 
going  together  for  the  first  time^  from  Haarlem  to  Am- 
sterdam, when  an  unusual  thing  happened ;  the  engineer 
felt  him  self  something  of  a  poet,  and  the  poet  experienced  a 
desire  to  be  in  the  engineer's  shoes.  Such  is  this  strange 
country,  where  the  writer,  to  rouse  his  imagination,  and. 
excite  enthusiasm,  has  only  to  enumerate  kilometres, 
cubic  metres  of  water,  and  years  of  labor ;  whence  a 
poem  upon  Holland  would  be  a  poor  affair  without  an 
appendix  full  of  numbers,  and  a  complete  relation  from 
an  engineer  would  need  only  verse  and  rhyme  to  make 
it  a  splendid  poem. 

Immediately  upon  leaving  Haarlem,  the  train  passes 
over  a  handsome  iron  bridge  of  six  arches  which  spans 
the  Spaarne ;  which  bridge,  after  the  passage  of  the  train, 
parts  in  the  middle  as  if  by  enchantment,  and  leaves 
the  way  open  to  vessels.  Two  men  only  moving  a  macliine 
at  a  signal  from  the  bridge-keeper  remove  in  two  minutes 


AMSTERDAM.  245 

two  arches,  and  in  the  same  time  replace  them  for 
the  passage  of  another  train.  A  short  time  after  having 
crossed  the  bridge  the  waters  of  the  Y  became  visible 
upon  the  horizon. 

Here  one  feels  more  than  ever  a  certain  sentiment  of 
anxiety  which  often  disturbs  those  who  travel  for  the  lirst 
time  in  Holland.  The  road  runs  along  a  strip  of  land 
which  separates  the  bottom  of  the  antique  lake  of  Haar- 
lem from  the  waters  of  the  Y,  a  prolongation,  called  thus 
from  its  form,  of  the  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee,  which  projects 
into  the  laud  between  Atnsterdam  and  North  Holland, 
as  far  as  the  downs  of  the  North  Sea.  In  order  to  con- 
struct this  railway,  which  was  opened  in  1839,  before 
the  draining  of  Haarlem  lake,  it  was  necessary  to  pile  fas- 
cine upon  fascine,  to  add  pile  to  pile,  stone  to  stone,  sand 
to  sand ;  to  make,  in  a  word,  the  land  upon  which  the 
road  was  to  pass,  a  sort  of  artificial  isthmus  across  the 
marshes ;  and  it  was  a  most  difficult  and  costly  work, 
which  demands  perpetual  care  and  continual  expendi- 
ture. This  tongue  of  land  grows  more  and  more  slender 
until  it  reaches  Halfvveg,  which  is  the  only  station  be- 
tween Haarlem  and  Amsterdam.  Here  the  waters  of  the 
Y,  and  the  bottom  of  the  drained  lake  are  divided  bv 
colossal  sluice-gates,  to  which  the  existence  of  the  greater 
part  of  South  Holland  is  confided.  If  these  sluices  were 
to  open,  the  city  of  Amsterdam,  hundreds  of  villages,  the 
ancient  lake,  an  extent  of  country  comprising  fifty  kilo- 
metres would  be  invaded  and  devastated  by  the  waters. 

The  draining  of  the  lake  has  diminished  the  danger, 
but  has  not  entirely  removed  it;  and  therefore,  at  Half- 


246  HOLLAND, 

weg  there  is  established  a  special  agency  of  the  so-called 
water  administration^  which  keeps  guard  over  this  Dutch 
Thermopylae,  with  its  eye  on  the  enemy,  and  its  hand  on 
the  sword. 

Passing  the  station  at  Halfweg,  you  see  on  the  left, 
beyond  the  gulf  of  the  Y,  a  confused  movement  as  of 
thousands  of  masts  of  vessels  beaten  by  the  tempest,  and 
rising  and  falling  with  the  waves  of  the  sea ;  they  are  the 
arms  of  about  a  hundred  windmills  half  hidden  by  the 
dykes,  which  extend  along  the  coast  of  North  Holland, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town  of  Zandam,  opposite  to 
Amsterdam.  Shortly  after  these,  Amsterdam  appears. 
At  the  first  aspect  of  the  city,  even  after  having  seen  all 
the  other  parts  of  Holland,  you  cannot  restrain  a  gesture 
of  astonishment.  It  is  a  forest  of  lofty  windmills  in  the 
form  of  towers,  steeples,  pyramids,  light-houses,  truncated 
cones,  and  aerial  houses,  waving  their  enormous  arms, 
and  whirling  above  the  roofs  and  domes  like  a  cloud  of 
monstrous  birds  beating  their  wings  over  the  city.  In 
the  midst  of  these  mills  rise  innumerable  factory-chimneys, 
masts  of  ships,  fantastic  steeples,  tops  of  strange-looking 
edifices,  pinnacles,  and  points,  and  unknown  objects;  far 
oft'  are  seen  more  windmills,  thick  and  intricate,  looking 
like  a  great  net  suspended  in  the  air ;  the  entire  city  is 
black,  the  sky  dark  and  troubled  :  a  grand,  confused,  and 
strange  spectacle,  causing  your  entrance  into  Amster- 
dam to  be  effected  with  the  accompaniment  of  a  vivid 
curiosity. 

The  first  impression  produced  by  the  sight  of  some  of 
its  streets  is  difficult  to  describe.     It  seems  an  immense 


o 

-r 

I 


*5 

< 
2: 


AMSTERDAM,  247 

and  disorderly  city — Venice,  grown  large  and  ugly;  a 
Dutch  city,  certainly,  but  seen  through  a  lens  which 
makes  it  seem  three  times  larger,  the  capital  of  an  imagi- 
nary Holland  of  fifty  millions  of  inhabitants;  an 
antique  metropolis,  founded  by  giants  upon  the  delta  of  a 
measureless  river,  to  serve  as  a  port  for  ten  thousand 
ships,  majestic,  stern,  almost  gloomy,  and  exciting  a 
feeling  of  astonishment,  in  which  one  finds  cause  for 
reflection. 

The  city,  posted  upon  the  shore  of  the  Y,  is  built  upon 
ninety  islands,  almost  all  of  rectangular  form,  which  are 
joined  together  by  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  bridges. 
Its  figure  is  that  of  a  perfect  semicircle  with  canals  in  the 
form  of  concentric  arches  extending  to  the  one  which 
closes  the  city,  and  crossed  by  other  canals  converging  to 
a  centre  like  the  threads  of  a  spiders  web.  A  broad  water- 
course called  the  Amstel  (which,  with  the  word  dam,  or 
dyke,  forms  the  name  Amsterdam)  divides  the  city  into  two 
almost  equal  parts,  and  empties  itself  into  the  Y.  Almost 
all  the  houses  are  built  upon  piles,  and  it  is  said  that  if 
Amsterdam  should  be  turned  bottom  upwards,  it  would 
present  the  spectacle  of  a  great  forest  ?f  trees,  without 
branches  or  leaves;  almost  all  the  canals  aie  bordered  by 
two  wide  streets  and  two  rows  of  linden-trees. 

This  regularity  of  form,  by  which  the  eye  can  range  on 
every  side,  gives  to  the  city  a  grandiose  aspect.  At  every 
turn  of  a  street  you  see  in  a  new  direction  three, 
four,  or  even  sixdr  awbridges,  some  rising,  some  falling, 
Bome  closed,  and  some  in  motion,  oresenting  a  confused 
perspective  of  beams  and  chains,  as  if  Amsterdam  were 


248  UOLLAND, 

composed  of  so  many  enemies'  quarters,  all  fortified  against 
eacli  other. 

Canals,  as  broad  as  rivers,  form  here  and  there  spacious 
basins,  around  which  you  can  go,  by  a  succession  of 
bridges  joined  one  to  the  other.  From  every  crossing 
can  be  seen  distant  perspectives  of  other  bridges^  canals, 
shipping,  edifices,  all  veiled  in  a  light  mist  which  makes 
them  look  more  distant. 

The  houses,  almost  all  very  high,  in  comparison  to  those 
of  other  Dutch  cities,  black,  with  doors  and  windows 
bordered  with  white,  with  pointed  fa9ades  decorated 
with  bas-i'eliefs  representing  urns,  flowers,  and  animals, 
are  almost  all  defended  in  front  by  columns,  balustrades, 
posts  and  chains,  or  iron  bars,  and  divided  from  each 
other  by  low  walls  and  partitions ;  and  within  this 
species  of  advanced  fortress,  which  encumbers  a  large 
part  of  the  street,  there  are  tables,  benches  with  vases 
of  flowers,  chairs,  buckets,  wheelbarrows,  baskets,  and 
carcasses  of  old  furniture ;  so  that  to  look  down  a  street, 
from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other,  it  appears  as  if  the  inha- 
bitants had  carried  out  their  household  goods  preparatory 
to  a  general  remove.  Many  houses  have  a  floor  below  the 
street,  which  is  approached  by  a  short  flight  of  steps;  and 
in  the  area  between  the  street  and  the  wall  there  are  more 
pots  of  flowers,  merchandise  exposed  for  sale,  people  at 
work — a  world  warming  under  the  feet  of  the  passenger. 

The  principal  streets  present  a  spectacle  unique  in  the 
world.  The  canals  are  covered  with  ships  and  barges ; 
and  in  the  streets  that  flank  them  are  seen  on  one  side 
Leaps  of  casks,  cases,  bales  and  sacks;  on  the  other  a 


AMSTERDAM,  249 

row  of  splendid  shops.  Here,  a  crowd  of  people,  well- 
dressed  ladies,  maid-servants,  pedlars,  and  sliopmeu; 
there,  the  rough  and  vagabond  raee  of  sailors  and  boat- 
men with  their  wives  and  children.  To  the  right  is  heard 
the  vivacious  chatter  of  the  citizens;  to  the  left  the  long, 
shrill  cry  of  the  sea-going  people.  On  one  side  the  nos- 
trils are  saluted  by  the  perfume  of  the  flowers  which 
adorn  the  windows,  and  the  odour  of  cook-shops  ;  on  the 
other  by  the  smell  of  tar  and  the  fumes  of  the  humble 
kitchen  of  the  sailing  vessels.  Here  a  drawbridge  rises 
to  give  passage  to  a  ship  j  there,  the  people  swarm  upon 
one  which  has  but  just  fallen  into  its  place  again;  further 
on,  a  raft  ferries  over  a  group  of  persons  from  the  other 
side  of  the  canal ;  from  the  bottom  of  the  street  a  steam- 
boat is  just  setting  off;  at  the  opposite  extremity  a  long 
file  of  laden  barges  are  just  coming  in;  here  opens  a 
sluice-gate;  there  glides  a  trekschuit ;  not  far  off  whirls 
a  windmill;  and  down  there  they  are  planting  piles  for 
a  new  house.  The  rattle  of  chains  from  the  bridges 
mingles  with  the  roll  of  carts;  the  whistle  of  steamers 
breaks  into  the  chimes  from  the  steeples;  the  cordage 
of  the  ships  tangles  itself  among  the  branches  of  the 
trees ;  carriages  pass  side  by  side  with  boats ;  shops  are 
reflected  in  the  water,  sails  are  reflected  in  shop  windows; 
sea-life  and  land-life  are  intermingled,  cross,  and  pass  each 
other  continually,  and  the  result  is  new,  and  gay  beyond 
description. 

If  you  leave  the  principal  streets  and  strike  into  the 
older  quarters  of  the  town,  the  scene  changes  completely. 
The   narrowest  streets  of  Toledo,  the  darkest  lanes    of 


250  HOLLAND, 

Genoa,  the  craziest  houses  in  Rotterdam  are  nothing  in 
comparison  with  the  narrowness,  the  darkness,  and  the 
craziness  of  architecture  that  confront  vou  here.      The 

mi 

streets  seem  like  cracks  opened  by  an  earthquake. 
The  houses^  tall  and  black,  half  hidden  by  the  rags 
that  are  hung  from  every  window,  bend  and  lean  in  a 
frightful  way.  Some  appear  on  the  point  of  falling  for- 
ward into  the  street ;  others  almost  touch  each  other  with 
their  roofs,  leaving  only  a  slim  strip  of  sky  visible ;  they 
look  like  scenes  in  a  theatre  in  the  act  of  being  changed. 
Have  they  been  built  in  this  way  on  purpose,  in  order  to 
let  the  water  run  off,  or  has  the  ground  sunk  beneath 
them  ?  Both  suppositions  are  probably  correct.  And 
even  in  those  labyrinths,  swarming  with  depressed  and 
pallid  creatures  to  whom  a  ray  of  sun-light  comes  as  a 
benediction  from  heaven,  there  are  pots  of  flowers,  and 
little  mirrors  and  curtains  in  the  windows,  revealing  a 
poverty  not  unaccompanied  by  a  love  of  home  and 
family. 

The  most  picturesque  part  of  the  city  is  that  comprised 
in  the  curve  of  the  Amstel  around  the  square  of  the  new 
market.  There  are  to  be  seen  dark  streets  crossed  bv 
deserted  canals;  solitary  squares,  surrounded  by  walls 
dripping  with  water;  mouldy  old  tumble-down  houses, 
bathed  by  stagnant  filthy  water ;  vast  warehouses  with  all 
their  doors  and  windows  closed ;  boats  and  barges  aban- 
doned in  canals  without  issue,  which  look  as  if  they  were 
waiting  for  sorcerers  or  conspirators ;  heaps  of  building 
material,  basins  covered  with  weeds  and  muddy  scum, 
walls,  water,  bridges,  all  black  and  dismal,  and   alarming 


o 

u-> 


i/i 


*5 


t/5 


O' 


\ 


■^-^  ^ 


AMSTERDAM,  251 

the  chance  passenger  with  dread  of  some  lurking  danger 
or  misadventure. 

Who  loves  contrast  has  only  to  betake  himself  to  that 
part  of  the  city  where  lies  the  square  called  the  Dam, 
where  all  the  principal  streets  converge,  and  where  he  will 
find  the  Royal  Palace,  the  Exchange,  the  New  Church, 
and  the  monument  called  the  Metal  Cross_,  raised  in  com- 
memoration of  the  war  of  1830.  There  is  a  continual 
moving  crowd  of  people  on  foot  and  in  carriages,  remind- 
ing one  of  Trafalgar  Square  in  Loudon,  the  Porta  del  Sol 
of  ]\fadrid,  and  the  Place  de  la  Madeleine  in  Paris. 
Standing  there  for  an  hour,  you  can  enjoy  the  most  varied 
spectacle  that  is  to  be  found  in  Holland.  There  pass  the 
rosy  faces  of  the  patrician  merchants,  bronzed  visages 
from  the  colonies,  foreigners  of  all  shades  of  blonde, 
guides,  organ-grinders,  announcers  of  death  with  long 
black  veils,  maid-servants  in  their  white  caps,  the  many- 
colored  waistcoats  of  the  fishermen  of  the  Zuyder  Zee, 
the  great  ear-rings  of  the  women  of  North  Holland,  the 
silver  diadem  of  Friesland,  the  gilded  helmet  of  Grciningen, 
the  yellow  shirt  of  the  workman  in  the  torbiere,  the  petti- 
coat, half  black,  half  red,  of  the  orphan  from  the  asylum, 
the  odd  costume  of  the  inhabitant  of  the  inlands,  out- 
rageous chignons,  and  impossible  hats ;  broad  shoulders, 
broad  hips,  great  bellies,  and  the  whole  procession  sur- 
rounded by  the  smoke  of  cigars  and  pipes,  and  accom- 
panied by  the  sounds  of  German,  Dutch,  English,  French, 
Flemish,  and  Danish  words,  until  the  spectator  almost 
believes  himself  in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  or  at  the 
foot  of  the  Tower  of  Babel. 


252  HOLLAND. 

From  the  piazza  of  the  Dam  you^  in  a  few  minutes, 
arrive  at  the  port^  which  also  offers  a  fine  and  strange 
spectacle.  At  first  you  cannot  comprehend  it.  On  every 
side  you  see  dykes,  bridges,  locks,  palisades,  and  basins, 
presenting  the  aspect  of  an  immense  fortress,  so  con- 
structed as  to  baffle  the  curiosity  of  anyone  who  might 
seek  to  discover  its  form ;  and  this,  indeed,  can  only  be 
done  by  help  of  a  map,  and  after  several  hours'  walk. 
From  the  centre  of  the  city,  at  a  distance  of  a  thousand 
metres  from  each  other,  two  great  dykes  on  arches 
start  in  opposite  directions,  and  embrace  and  defend  from 
ti^3  sea  the  two  extremities  of  Amsterdam  which  extend 
beyond  tne  semicircle  of  her  houses  like  the  two  horns  of 
a  half-moon.  These  two  dykes,  which  have  each  a  lock 
furnished  with  gigantic  gates,  close  in  two  basins  or  har- 
bors capable  of  containing  a  thousand  ships  of  large 
tonnage,  and  several  islets  upon  which  are  storehouses, 
arsenals,  and  workshops,  where  thousands  of  workmen 
are  employed.  From  the  two  great  dykes  advance  several 
smaller  dykes,  made  of  robust  piles,  and  serving  as  landing- 
places  for  the  steamboats.  On  all  these  dykes  there  are 
houses,  sheds,  barracks,  among  which  swarms,  a  throng  of 
sailors,  passengers,  porters,  women,  boys,  carriages,  and 
carts,  brought  there  by  the  arrivals  and  departures  which 
o'o  on  from  dawn  until  niofht.  From  the  two  extremities  o  f 
these  dykes  the  eye  embraces  the  interior  of  the  harbour ; 
two  forests  of  ships  with  flags  of  every  color  lying  in  the 
two  basins;  vessels  arriving  from  the  North  Sea  and 
entering  the  Zuyder  Zee  with  folded  canvas;  boats  and 
barks  crossing  and  recrossing  each  other  from  all  sides  of 


"   ri'^^. 


en 
xrt 

=5 


W 

PS 

< 


w 
X 


Q 
P.S 
W 
H 


AMSTERDAM.  253 

the  gulf;  the  green  coast  of  North  Holland;  the  hundred 
windmills  of  Zandam  ;  the  long  file  of  the  first  houses  of 
Amsterdam,  with  their  thousand-peaked  blaek  roofs  cut 
against  the  sky;  the  innumerable  columns  of  sooty  smoke 
rising  from  the  city  against  the  grey  horizon ;  and,  when 
the  clouds  are  in  motion,  and  constant,  rapid,  marvellous 
variation  of  color  and  aspect,  which  /nakcs  Holland  some- 
times the  gayest,  sometimes  the  gloomiest,  country  in  the 
world. 

Returning  into  the  city  and  observing  more  particularly 
the  buildings,  the  first  to  attract  attention  are  the  steeples. 
In  Amsterdam  there  are  temples  for  all  religions  :  Jewish 
synagogues,  churches  for  Reformed  Calvinists,  churches  for 
Lutherans  where  the  Augsburg  Confession  is  strictly  ob- 
served, and  churches  for  Lutherans  where  the  same  is 
more  broadly  interpreted,  churches  for  Remonstrants,  for 
Mennonites,  for  Walloons,  for  English  Episcopalians,  for 
English  Presbyterians,  for  Catholics,  for  Greek  schis- 
matics; and  every  one  of  these  temples  lifts  to  heaven  a 
steeple  that  seems  made  to  distance  all  the  others  in 
originality  and  oddity.  What  Victor  Hugo  says  of  the 
Flemish  architects — who  build  steeples  by  putting  an  in- 
verted salad-bowl  upon  a  judges^  cap,  a  sugar-bowl  upon 
the  salad-bowl,  a  bottle  upon  the  sugar-bowl,  and  an 
ostensorio  (or  golden  stand  from  which  the  Host  is  shown) 
upon  the  top  of  that — might  be  said  of  almost  all  the 
Amsterdam  steeples. 

Among  the  historical  edifices,  which  are  not  numerous, 
there  is  the  Royal  Palace,  the  first  of  the  palaces  of  Hol- 
land, built  in   1618-55,  upon  thirteen  thousand  six  hun- 


254  HOLLAND, 

dred  and  fifty-nine  piles — grandiose,  heavy,  and  black — of 
which  the  finest  ornament  is  a  ball-room  said  to  be  the 
largest  in  Europe ;  and  the  greatest  defect  that  of  having 
no  great  entrance-door^  from  which  it  is  generally  called 
the  house  Avithout  a  door. 

The  Exchange,  on  the  contrary,  which  stands  facing  the 
palace,  and  has  a  porch  sustained  by  seventeen  columns, 
is  known  as  the  door  without  a  house  ;  a  joke  which  every 
Dutchman  makes  a  point  of  repeating  to  strangers,  with 
the  slightest  possible  smile  curling  his  lip.  Whoever 
arrives  in  Amsterdam  in  the  first  week  of  the  Kermesse, 
which  is  the  Dutch  carnival,  may  behold  a  curiors  spectacle 
within  this  building.  For  seven  days,  at  the  hours  when 
no  business  is  done,  the  Exchange  is  open  to  all  the  boys 
and  girls  of  the  city,  who  rush  into  it  with  a  deafening 
noise  of  drums  and  whistles  and  cries ;  a  license  which,  if 
the  tradition  be  true,  was  conceded  by  the  municipality  in 
honor  of  some  boys,  who,  in  the  time  of  the  war  for  inde- 
pendence, playing  near  the  ancient  Exchange,  discovered 
some  Spaniards  who  were  preparing  to  blow  up  the  build- 
ing by  means  of  a  boat  laden  with  powder,  and  ran  to 
warn  the  citizens,  thus  bringing  to  nought  the  enemy^s 
plan.  Besides  the  Royal  Palace  and  the  Exchange,  there 
is  the  Palace  of  Industry,  made  of  glass  and  iron,  and 
surmounted  by  a  light  dome,  which  gives  it,  at  a  distance 
when  the  sun  strikes  upon  it,  the  look  of  a  mosque ;  and 
as  an  historical  monument,  there  are  the  ancient  towers 
which  stand  on  the  shores  of  the  harbour. 

Among  these  towers  there  is  one  called  the  "  Tower  of 
the   Corner   of    Lamentation,^'    or   "Tower   of    Tears,'' 


AMSTERDAM.  255 

because  there  in  ancient  times  Dutch  sailors  embarking 
for  long  voyages  took  leave  of  their  families  who  came  to 
see  them  off.  Over  the  gate  is  a  rusty  bas-relief,  bearing 
the  date  of  1569^  and  representing  tho  port,  with  a  sliip 
about  to  sail,  and  a  weeping  woman.  It  was  put  up  in 
memory  of  a  sailor's  wife  who  died  of  grief  at  the  depar- 
ture of  her  husband. 

It  has  been  observed  that  almost  all  strangers  who  go 
to  see  that  tower,  after  having  given  a  glance  at  the  bas- 
relief,  and  at  the  guide-book  which  explains  it,  turn 
towards  the  sea  and  look  thoughtfully  out,  as  if  in  search 
of  the  departing  vessel.  What  are  they  thinking  of? 
Perhaps  what  I  myself  was  thinking  of.  They  follow  that 
vessel  into  the  Arctic  seas,  to  the  whale  fishery,  and  in 
search  of  a  new  road  to  the  Indies,  and  the  tremendous 
epic  of  the  Dutch  navy  in  the  midst  of  the  horrors  of  the 
Pole  presents  itself  to  their  imagination :  seas  encum- 
bered with  ice,  cold  which  makes  the  flesh  fall  in  frag- 
ments from  the  face  and  hands,  white  bears  attacking  the 
Bailors  and  breaking  their  weapons  in  their  teeth,  walruses 
rushing  to  overturn  the  boats,  icebergs  beaten  by  wind 
and  sea,  and  vast  plains  of  moving  ice  which  imprison 
and  grind  the  fleet  to  powder;  desert  islands  strewn  with 
corpses  of  dead  sailors,  carcasses  of  ships,  and  leathern 
girdles  gnawed  in  their  agony  by  men  dying  of  hunger; 
then  the  whales  that  come  about  the  ships,  the  formidable 
contortions  of  the  wounded  monster  in  the  blood-stained 
water,  the  boats  overturned  with  a  blow  of  his  tail,  the  sailors 
struggling  in  the  sea;  shipwrecked  men  wandering  half- 
naked  amid  darkness  and  cold,  graves  dug  in  the  ice  and 


256  SOLLAND. 

covered  in  with  ice  to  keep  their  contents  Ircm  wild  beasts, 
and  the  sleep  that  brings  death.  And  still  white  and  misty 
solitudes^  where  no  sound  is  heard  save  the  rattle  of  the  oars 
in  the  rowlocks  echoing  from  the  caves,  and  the  lament- 
able cry  of  seals ;  and  other  deserts  where  no  trace  of  life 
exists,  with  mountains  of  incommensurate  ice_,  immense 
unknown  spaces,  snows  that  have  endured  for  centuries, 
eternal  winter,  the  solemn  sadness  of  the  polar  night,  the 
infinite  silence  in  which  the  soul  is  appalled ;  and  the  poor 
dying  sailors,  kneeling  on  the  deck,  stretch  their  joined 
hands  towards  the  horizon  all  on  fire  with  the  aurora- 
borealis,  and  pray  God  to  vouchsafe  them  once  more  to  see 
their  country  and  their  friends.  INlen  of  science,  mer- 
chants, poets,  all  bend  before  that  humble  vanguard  who 
have  traced  with  their  bones  upon  the  immaculate  snows 
of  the  Pole  the  first  path  for  living  men. 

Turning  to  the  right  from  this  tower,  and  walking 
along  the  edge  of  the  harbour,  you  reach  the  Plantaadije, 
a  vast  space  composed  of  two  islands  joined  together  by 
many  bridges,  in  which  are  a  park,  a  botanic  garden,  a 
zoological  garden,  and  a  public  promenade,  forming  a 
large  green  oasis  in  the  midst  of  the  livid  waters  and  the 
blockhouses.  Here  are  given  concerts  of  music,  noc- 
turnal festivals,  and  here  comes  the  flower  of  the  beauty 
of  Amsterdam  ;  a  flower  which,  fortunately  for  travellers 
of  sensitive  fibre,  gives  out  a  sweet  odor,  which  does  not 
aff^ect  the  head,  And  in  any  case,  there  is  a  refuge  from 
danger  in  the  zoological  garden,  the  property  of  a  com- 
pany of  fifteen  thousand  subscribers ;  the  finest  zoological 
garden  in  Holland,  and  one  of  the  richest  in  Europe ;  in 


AMSTELD/  If.  257 

irliicli  it  is  ea-5v  to  for2:ct  the  pale  faces  and  blue  eves  of 
the  lovely  Calvinists^  among  the  gigantic  salamanders 
of  Japan,  the  serpents  of  Java^  and  the  Brady  pi  didactyli 
of  Surinam. 

From  the  Plantaadije,  crossing  sundry  bridges  and  skirt- 
ing numerous  canals,  one  reaches  the  great  square  of  the 
Boter  Markt,  whpre  there  is  a  gigantic  statue  of  Rem- 
brandt, and  also  the  office  of  the  Italian  Consulate.  From 
this  square  you  go  to  the  Jewish  quarter^  one  of  the 
wonders  of  Amsterdam. 

I  asked  my  way  there  of  our  Consul,  who  answered, 
"  Go  straight  on  until  you  find  yourself  in  a  quarter  in- 
finitely dirtier  than  anv  which  vou  have  heretofore  con- 
sidered  the  dirtiest  in  the  world;  that  is  the  ghetto — you 
cannot  mistake  \i.'^  I  went  on,  it  may  be  imagined  with 
what  expectations;  I  passed  a  synagogue,  stopped  a  moment 
in  a  piazza,  took  a  narrow  street,  and  in  a  few  moments 
recognised  the  ghetto.     My  expectations  were  surpassed. 

It  was  a  labyrinth  of  narrow  lanes,  dark  and  filthy, 
flanked  by  ruined  houses  that  look  as  if  a  kick  would 
bring  them  down.  From  cords  stretched  from  window  to 
window,  from  nails  planted  in  the  doors,  and  from  the 
window-sills,  hung  and  waved  in  the  wind,  upon  the  damp 
walls,  ragged  shirts,  patched  gowns,  and  darned  breeches. 
Before  all  the  doors  and  upon  the  broken  steps,  old 
second-hand  goods  were  exposed  for  sale.  Refuse  of  fur- 
niture, fragments  of  weapons,  devotional  objects,  rags  of 
uniform,  remains  of  instruments,  old  iron,  fringes,  rags; 
evervthinor  that  is  nameless  in  any  human  tono^ue,  every- 
thing  that  is  spoiled  by  moth,  or  rust,  or  fire,  or  ruin,  or 


258  SOLLAND, 

dissipation^  or  sickness,  or  misery,  or  deatli;  everything 
that  is  despised  by  servants,  rejected  by  pawnbrokers, 
thrown  aside  by  beggars  or  overlooked  by  beasts ;  every- 
thing that  encumbers,  soils,  stinks,  and  contaminates ;  it 
is  all  there,  in  piles  and  heaps,  destined  for  a  mysterious 
trade  and  incredible  transformations.  In  the  midst  of 
this  cemetery  of  things,  this  Babylon  of  filth,  swarms  a 
people  so  ragged,  dirty,  and  wretched,  that  beside  them 
the  gipsies  of  the  Albaicin  of  Granada  are  sweet  and 
clean  and  perfumed.  As  in  all  countries,  they  have  bor- 
rowed from  the  people  among  whom  they  live  the  color 
of  the  skin  and  the  face  ;  but  they  have  preserved  the 
hooked  noses,  the  sharp  chins,  the  curling  hair,  and  all  the 
features  of  the  Semitic  race.  There  are  no  words  to  de- 
scribe these  people.  Locks  which  have  never  seen  a  comb, 
eyes  which  make  you  shudder,  leanness  like  that  of 
corpses,  pitiful  ugliness,  old  men  who  retain  scarcely  a 
semblance  of  humanity,  wrapped  in  garments  which  no 
longer  betray  by  color  or  form  to  what  sex  they  belong, 
from  which  protrude  long  skeleton  claws,  like  those  of 
some  noxious  insect.  And  everything  is  done  in  the 
middle  of  the  street.  Women  are  frying  fish  on  little 
stoves;  girls  are  rocking  babies;  men  are  looking  over 
their  stores  of  old  duds;  half-naked  boys  are  rolling  on  the 
stones,  which  are  covered  with  rotten  vegetables  and 
entrails  of  fish  ;  decrepit  old  women,  seated  on  the  ground, 
scratch  their  filthy  bodies,  uncovering  as  they  do  so,  limbs 
from  which  the  eye  turns  away  in  horror.  Walking  on 
the  points  of  my  toes,  stopping  my  nose,  and  turning 
away  my  eyes  from  things  which  they  could  not  endure,  I 


Amsterdam.     In  the  Poor  Districts      {Page  258.) 


AMSTERDAM.  259 

reached  at  last  a  clean  and  open  place  on  the  edge  of  a 
broad  canal,  where  I  breathed  with  delight  the  air  im- 
pregnated with  salt  and  tar,  and  felt  as  if  I  had  entered  a 
terrestrial  paradise. 

In  Amsterdam^  as  in  all  the  other  Dutch  cities,  there  are 
many  private  societies,  some  of  which  have  the  impor- 
tance of  great  national  institutions  ;  foremost  among 
them  is  the  Society  of  Public  Utility,  founded  in  1784, 
which  is  almost  a  second  government  for  Holland.  Its 
scope  is  popular  education,  for  which  it  provides  by  the 
publication  of  elementary  books,  public  readings,  libraries 
for  working  people,  schools  for  primary  instruction,  pro- 
fessional schools,  singing  schools,  asylums,  savings  banks, 
prizes  for  good  conduct,  and  rewards  for  acts  of  courage 
and  unselfishness.  The  society,  directed  by  a  council 
composed  of  ten  directors  and  a  secretary-general,  is  com- 
posed of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  members,  divided  into 
three  hundred  gronps,  which  form  as  many  independent 
societies,  scattered  among  the  towns  and  villages.  Every 
member  pays  about  ten  francs  a  year.  With  the  sum 
(modest  in  relation  to  the  vastness  of  the  institution) 
which  this  tax  produces,  the  society  exercises,  as  Alphonso 
Esquiroz  says,  a  sort  of  anonymous  magistracy  over  public 
manners ;  binds  together  with  impartial  beneficence  all 
religious  sects;  distributes  with  liberal  hand  about  the 
country  instruction,  aid,  and  comfort;  and  as  it  was  born 
independent,  so  it  works  and  proceeds  faithful  to  the 
principle  of  the  Dutch  people,  that  the  tree  of  beneficence 
must  grow  without  graft  or  puncture.  Other  societies, 
like  that  of  Arti  et  Amicitice,   Felix  Meritis,  and  Doc- 


260  HOLLAND, 

trina  et  Amicifits,  have  in  view  the  growth  of  arts  and 
sciences,  the  promotion  of  public  works,  readings^  and 
meetings,  and  are  at  the  same  time  delightful  places  oi 
meeting,  furnished  with  fine  libraries,  and  almost  all  the 
great  European  journals. 

Upon  the  charitable  institutions  of  Amsterdam  a  book 
might  be  written.  The  words  of  Louis  XIV.  when  he 
was  preparing  to  invade  Holland,  to  Charles  II.  of  Eng- 
land, are  noteworthy: — "Have  no  fear  for  Amsterdam  ; 
I  have  the  firm  hope  that  Providence  will  save  her,  if  it 
were  only  in  consideration  of  her  charity  towards  the 
poor."*'  All  human  misfortunes  find  an  asylum  and  work 
there.  Admirable  above  all  is  the  Asylum  for  Orphans  of 
Amsterdam  Citizens,  which  had  the  honor  of  sheltering 
that  immortal  Van  Speyk,  wdio,  in  1831,  upon  the  waters 
of  the  Scheldt,  saved  the  honor  of  the  Dutch  flag  by  the 
sacrifice  of  his  own  life.  These  orphans  wear  a  very 
curious  costume,  half  black  and  half  red,  so  that,  seen  in 
profile,  on  one  side  they  seemed  dressed  for  a  carnival, 
and  on  the  other  for  a  funeral ;  and  this  odd  device  was 
chosen  so  that  they  might  be  recognised  by  the  tavern- 
keepers,  who  are  forbidden  to  allow  them  to  enter,  and 
by  the  officials  of  the  railways,  who  may  not  permit  them 
to  travel  without  express  permission  from  the  directors ; 
w^hich  results,  it  may  be  remarked  in  passing,  could  have 
been  obtained  with  a  less  ridiculous  costume.  These  bi- 
colored  orphans  are  seen  everywhere,  clean,  fresh,  and 
courteous,  and  refreshing  to  the  heart.  In  all  public 
festivals  they  occupy  the  first  place ;  their  song  is  heard 
on  all  occasions  of  solemn  ceremony;  the  first  stone  of 


AMSTEEDAM.  2G1 

national  monuments  is  placed  by  their  hands  ;   and  the 
people  love  and  honor  them. 

To  have  done  with  the  institutions,  we  should  take  note 
of  the  paiticular  industries  of  Amsterdam,  such  as  tiio 
refining  of  borax  and  camphor  and  the  manufacture  of 
enamel  ;  hut  these  are  things  for  the  travelling  encyclo- 
pedists of  the  future.  Diamond-polishing,  however, 
merits  special  mention,  being  the  chief  of  the  indu:^tries 
of  Amsterdam,  and  a  secret  between  the  Jews  of  Antwerp 
and  Amsterdam,  by  whom  it  is  entirely  exercised.  This 
trade  amounts  to  one  hundred  millions  of  francs  yearly, 
and  supports  more  than  ten  thousand  persons.  One  of 
the  finest  workrooms  is  that  in  the  Quanenburger  Straat, 
where  the  workmen  themselves  explain  in  French  the 
three  operations  of  cutting,  and  first  and  final  polishing, 
done  under  the  eyes  of  the  visitor,  with  admirable  dexterity 
and  courtesy.  It  is  astonishing  to  see  those  humble  little 
stones,  resembling  fragments  of  dirty  gum-arabic  fit  to 
be  thrown  out  of  window  in  company  with  cigar  ends, 
in  a  few  seconds  transformed,  glowing  and  animated  with 
a  flashing  and  festive  life,  as  if  they  understood  the  des- 
tiny that  had  drawn  them  from  the  bowels  of  the  earlh 
to  make  them  serve  the  pomps  of  the  world.  In  how 
many  strange  events  will  this  little  stone,  now  held  in  tlio 
^Yo^kman's  iron  glove,  be  actor,  or  witness,  or  cause?  It 
may  glow  upon  the  forehead  of  a  queen,  who  will  souiC 
night  leave  it  in  its  casket  while  she  escapes  from  the 
crowd  besieging  the  gates  of  her  palace.  Fallen  into  the 
hands  of  a  Communist,  it  may  gleam  upon  the  table  of  a 
court  of  justice,  side  by  side  with  a  blood-stained  dnggc:. 


262  HOLLAND. 

It  may  pass  througli  many  scenes  of  nuptial   feasts  and 
banquets  and  dances,  and  flying  through  the  door  of  the 
pawnbroker's  shop,  or  out  of  the  window  of  a  carriage 
assailed  by  robbers,  go    from  hand    to  hand,  and   from 
country  to  country,  until  it  sparkles  on  the  hand  of  some 
princess  in  her  box  at  the  opera  at  St.  Petersburg.     From 
thence  it  may  go  to  add  a  point  of  light  to  the  sabre-hilt 
of  a  pasha  in  Asia  Minor,  and  then  to  tempt  the  virtue 
of  a  youthful  milliner  in  the  Saint  Antoine  quarter  of 
Paris  ;  and  at  last — who  knows  ? — to  ornament  the  watch 
of  a  descendant  o£  him  who  first  presented  it  to  worldly 
honors,  since  among  these  workmen  there  are  some  who 
put  by  a  little  capital  for  their  children.     Among  others 
there  was,  a  few  years  ago,  in  the  "^uanenburger  Straat, 
the  old  Israelite  who  cut  the  famous  gem  called  the  Koh- 
i-noor,  which,  besides  the  grand  medal  of  honor  at  the 
Paris  Exposition,  brought  him  a  reward  of  ten  thousand 
florins,  and  a  present  from  the  Queen  of  England. 

At  Amsterdam  there  is  the  finest  picture  gallery  in 
Holland. 

The  stranger  who  enters  it  prepared  to  admire  the  two 
greatest  works  of  Dutch  painters,  has  no  need  to  inquire 
where  they  are.  He  has  scarcely  crossed  the  threshold, 
when  he  sees  a  small  room  filled  with  silent,  motionless 
people,  and  entering,  finds  himself  in  the  most  sacred 
'penetralia  of  the  temple.  On  the  right  is  Rembrandt's 
^'  Night  Patrol  "  ;  on  the  left,  Yan  der  Heist's  "  Banquet 
of  the  Civic  Guard." 

After  having  seen  these  two   pictures  over   and  over 
again,  I  often  amused  myself  by  watching  the  people  who 


AMSTERDAM,  263 

came  there  for  tlie  first  time.  Almost  all,  upon  their 
entrance,  stopped,  looked  in  astonishment  first  at  one  and 
then  at  the  other,  and  then,  smiling,  turned  to  the  right, 
llembrandt  was  the  victor. 

The  "  Night  Patrol,^^  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  "  The 
ArquebusieiV  and  also  ^^The  Company  of  Banning 
Cock,'-'  the  largest  of  Rembrandt's  canvases,  is  more  than 
a  picture,  it  is  a  spectacle,  and  an  amazing  one.  All  the 
French  critics,  to  express  the  effect  which  it  produces,  make 
use  of  the  same  phrase,  "  C'est  ecrasant ! ''  ("  It  is  over- 
powering ! '')  A  great  crowd  of  human  figures,  a  great  light, 
a  great  darkness — at  the  first  glance  this  is  what  strikes 
you,  and  for  a  moment  you  know  not  where  to  fix  your  eyes 
in  order  to  comprehend  that  grand  and  splendid  confusion. 

There  are  officers,  halberdiers,  boys  running,  arque- 
busiers  loading  and  firing,  youths  beating  drums,  people 
bowing,  talking,  calling  out,  gesticulating — all  dressed  in 
different  costumes,  with  round  hats,  pointed  hats,  plumes, 
casques,  morions,  iron  gorgets,  linen  collars,  doublets 
embroidered  with  gold,  great  boots,  stockings  of  all  colors, 
arms  of  every  form  ;  and  all  this  tumultuous  and  glittering 
throng  start  out  from  the  dark  background  of  the  pic- 
ture and  advance  towards  the  spectator.  The  two  first 
personages  are  Franz  Banning  Cock,  lord  of  Furraer- 
land  and  Ilpendam,  captain  of  the  company,  aud  his 
lieutenant  "Will em  van  Buijtenberg,  lord  of  Vlaardingen, 
the  two  marching  side  by  side.  The  only  figures  that  are 
in  fall  light  are  this  lieutenant,  dressed  in  a  doublet  of 
buffalo  -  hide,  with  gold  ornaments,  scarf  gorget,  and 
white  plume,  with  high  boots ;    and   a    girl  who  com 


264  HOLLAND. 

behind^  witli  blonde  liair  ornamented  with  pearls,  and  a 
yellow  satin  dress;  all  tlie  otlier  figures  are  in  deep 
shadow,  excepting  the  heads,  which  are  illuminated.  By 
what  light?  Here  is  the  enigma.  Is  it  the  light  of  the 
sun  ?  or  of  the  moon  ?  or  of  the  torches  ?  There  are 
gleams  of  gold  and  silver,  moonlight-colored  reflections, 
fiery  lights ;  personages  which,  'like  the  girl  with  blonde 
tresses,  seem  to  shine  by  a  light  of  their  own ;  faces  that 
seem  lighted  by  the  fire  of  a  conflagration;  dazzling 
scintillations,  shadows,  twilight,  and  deep  darkness,  all  are 
there,  harmonised  and  contrasted  with  marvellous  bold- 
ness and  insuperable  art.  Are  there  discordances  of  light  ? 
gratuitous  shadows?  accessories  too  much  brought  out  to 
the  detriment  of  the  figures?  vague  and  grotesque 
figures?  unjustifiable  oddities  and  defects?  All  this  ha?^ 
been  said  about  the  picture.  There  have  been  arguments 
of  blind  enthusiasm  and  of  spiteful  censure.  It  has  been 
raised  to  the  skies  as  a  wonder  of  the  world,  and  pro- 
nounced unworthy  of  Eembrandt,  discussed,  interpreted, 
explained  in  a  thousand  ways  and  senses.  But,  in  spite 
of  censure,  defects,  conflicting  judgments,  it  has  been 
there  for  two  centuries  triumphant  and  glorious  ;  and  the 
more  you  look  at  it,  the  more  it  is  alive  and  glowing;  and 
even  seen  only  at  a  glance,  it  remains  for  ever  in  the 
memory,  with  all  its  mystery  and  splendor,  like  a  stu- 
pendous vision. 

The  picture  by  Van  der  Heist  (a  painter  of  whom 
nothing  is  known  beyond  the  fact  that  he  was  born  in 
Amsterdam  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
and  passed  the  greater  part  of  his  life  there)  represents  a 


AMSTEEDA2I.  2G5 

banquet  given  by  the  Civic  Guard  of  Amsterdam,  to  com- 
memorate the  peace  of  Munster,  on  the  18th  of  June 
1618.  The  picture  contains  twenty-five  figures  of  life- 
size,  all  faithful  portraits  of  noted  personages,  whose 
names  have  been  preserved.  There  are  officers,  sergeants, 
banner-bearers,  and  guards,  grouped  about  a  table,  holding 
each  others''  hands,  speaking,  and  drinking  toasts;  some 
eating,  some  carving,  some  peeling  oranges,  and  some 
pouring  out  wine.  Ptembrandt's  picture  is  a  fantastic  ap- 
parition ;  Van  der  Ilclst^  a  mirror  reflecting  a  real  scene. 
There  is  neither  unity,  nor  contrast,  nor  mystery ;  every- 
thing is  represented  with  the  same  care  and  the  same 
relief.  Heads  and  hands,  figures  near  or  distant,  steel 
armour  and  lace  fringes,  plumed  hats  and  silken  standards, 
silver  horns  and  gilded  goblets,  vases,  spoons  and  knives, 
plates  and  dishes,  food,  wines,  ^Ycapons,  ornaments,  all 
stand  out,  splendidly  real  and  fascinating  the  eye.  The 
heads,  considered  one  by  one,  are  portraits  wonderfully 
rendered,  from  which  a  physician  might  securely  judge  of 
the  owner's  temperament  and  prescribe  for  the  heaUh  of 
all.  With  regard  to  the  hands,  it  has  been  argued,  and 
with  reason,  that  if  taken  from  the  figures  and  mixed 
together,  they  could  be  recognised  and  replaced  without 
danger  of  mistake,  so  fine,  distinct,  and  individual  are 
they.  The  variety  and  splendor  of  color,  the  openness 
and  freshness  of  the  countenances,  the  splendid  costumes, 
the  thousand  glittering  objects,  all  together  give  to  this 
great  picture  an  air  of  joyous  festivity,  which  causes  the 
vulgarity  of  the  subject  to  be  forgotten,  and  excites  in  the 
beholders  a  sentiment  of  friendly  sympathy  and  admira- 


266  HOLLAND, 

tion_,  wihch  reveals  itself  in  a  pleased  smile  upon  the  faces 
of  the  most  ill-disposed  visitors. 

There  is  also  in  this  gallery  Rembrandt's  great  picture 
called  "  The  Syndics  of  the  Cloth  Merchants/^  painted 
nineteen  years  after  the  ''^  Night  Patrol/"'  with  less  of 
youthful  fire  and  eccentricity  of  fancy,  but  with  all  the 
vigor  of  mature  genius_,  and  not  less  wonderful  than 
the  other  for  effects  of  chiaroscuro,  expression  of  the 
figures,  strength  of  color,  and  exuberance  of  life,  pre- 
ferred by  some  critics  to  the  '^  Patrol/''  There  is  another 
picture  by  Van  der  Heist,  ^^  The  Syndics  of  the  Confra- 
ternity of  St.  Sebastian  at  Amsterdam,'^  in  which  all  the 
great  qualities  of  the  master  are  still  resplendent,  though 
somewhat  less  than  in  the  '^  Banquet/'' 

Steen  has  eight  pictures,  among  them  his  own  portrait, 
which  represents  him  as  young  and  handsome,  with  long 
hair,  and  a  quiet  meditative  air,  which  seems  to  say : 
„No,  stranger,  I  was  not  a  dissipated  man,  nor  a  drunkard, 
nor  a  bad  husband;  I  was  calumniated;  respect  my 
memory/^  The  subjects  of  the  other  pictures  are,  a  maid- 
servant cleaning  a  pot,  a  peasant  family  returning  home  in 
a  boat,  a  baker  making  bread,  a  family  scene,  a  village 
wedding,  a  children's  festival,  a  mountebank  in  the 
square;  all  with  the  usual  drunken  figures,  the  usual 
laughter,  the  usual  grotesque  personages,  admirably 
colored  and  lighted  up.  In  the  picture  of  the  ''  Mounte- 
bank," above  all,  his  mania  for  the  grotesque  reaches  its 
climax.  The  heads  are  deformed,  the  faces  grimace,  the 
noses  are  beaks,  the  backs  are  humps,  the  hands  are 
claws,  the  attitudes  are  contortions,  the  smiles  grins — 


AMSTERDAM.  267 

figures,  in  a  word,  whose  like  can  only  be  found  in  an 
anatomical  museum^  or  in  tlie  grotesque  animalisms  of 
Grandville.     It  is  impossible  not  to   laugh,  but  it  is  with 
the  feeling  of  those  who  looked  at   "  Gymplaine/^  saying 
in  their  hearts,  "  What  a  pity  he  is  a  monster/' 

There  was,  however,  an  artist  who  brought  this  kind  of 
painting  even  lower  than  Stecn  :  Adrian  Brouwer,  one  of 
the  most  famous  of  his  school  in  Holland.     He  was  a 
disciple  of  Francis  Hals,  and  got  drunk  with  him  regularly 
once  a  day,  until,  persecuted  by  his  creditors,  he  fled  to 
Antwerp,  where  he  was  arrested  as  a  spy  and  thrown  into 
prison.     Rubens  procured  his  release  and  received  him 
into  his  own  house ;  but   Rubens  led  a  respectable  life, 
and  Brouwer,  who  detested  restraint,  left  him.      He  went 
to  Paris,  wdicre  he  rushed  into  all  sorts  of  excesses  until, 
reduced  to  a  mere  shadow,  he  came  back  to  Antwerp  and 
died  miserably  in  the  hospital  in  his  thirty-second  year. 
As  he  cared  only  for  the  tavern  and  its  frequenters,  so  he 
painted  only  coarse  and  disgusting  scenes  of  drunken  men 
and  women,  the  merit  of  Avhich  lies  in  their  vivid    and 
harmonious  color  and  marked  originality.     The  gallery  at 
Amsterdam   has   two    of    his    pictures,    one  representing 
^^  Peasants  Fighting/*  and  the  other  "  A  Village  Orgy.'* 
The  last  is  completely  Brouwer.     It  represents  a  room  in 
a  tavern,  where  a  company  of  tipsy  men  and  women   are 
drmking   and  smoking.     One  w^oman  is  stretched  on  the 
floor  dead  drunk,  with  her  baby  crying  beside  her. 

Gerard  Douw  has  here  his  famous  picture  of  the  "Night 
School,"  or,  the  picture  of  the  four  candles,  worthy  of  a 
place  beside  his  "  Dropsical  Woman*'  in  the  Louvre,  acd 


268  HOLLAND. 

among  the  most  exquisite  of  the  gems  of  Dutch  art.  It 
is  a  small  picture,  which  represents  in  the  foreground  a 
schoolmaster  with  two  boy  scholars  and  a  girl  seated 
around  a  table;  another  girl  is  intent  upon  a  small 
scholar  who  is  writing  on  a  slate;  and  in  the  background 
there  are  other  pupils  at  their  studies.  But  the  origin- 
ahty  of  the  picture  consists  in  this,  that  the  figures  are 
the  accessories,  and  the  principal  part,  the  protagonists — 
the  subject  of  the  picture,  in  a  word — are  the  four 
candles:  one  burning  in  a  lantern  left  on  the  floor; 
one  which  lights  the  group  of  the  master  and  his  scholars  ; 
a  third  held  by  the  girl  and  illuminating  the  slate ;  and 
a  fourth  upon  a  table  behind,  among  the  boys  who  are 
studying.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  what  a  variety  of 
lights  and  shadows,  tremulous  rays,  and  shafts  of  light 
an  artist  like  Douw  knew  how  to  draw  from  his  four 
flames;  what  infinite  difhculties  were  created  by  them, 
what  infinite  care  was  necessary  to  conquer  them,  and 
with  what  wonderful  power  he  has  accomplished  it.  The 
picture,  painted,  as  a  critic  has  said,  "with  the  eye-lash 
of  a  new-born  baby,^'  and  covered  with  glass,  like  a  relic, 
was  sold  in  1766  for  eight  thousand  francs,  and  in  1808 
for  thirty-five  thousand  ;  and  certainly  a  cipher  added 
to  the  last  sum  would  not  be  sufficient  to  buy  it  now. 

There  would  never  be  an  end  of  description  if  I  were 
to  attempt  to  mention  only  the  principal  pictures  in  this 
gallery.  The  sublime  and  melancholy  Ruysdael  has  a 
winter  scene  and  a  forest,  full  of  his  own  soul,  as  it  is 
customary  to  say  of  his  landscapes.  Zcrburg  has  hia 
celebrated  "Patc-xial  Counsel ^'';  Wouvennanns,  ten  ad- 


AMSTEEDA2I.  2C9 

mirable  pictures  of  garae^  battles,    and  liorscs ;  Potter, 

Karel  du  Jardin,  Van  Blade,  Cuyp,  ^letzu,  Van  der  Verde, 

Everdingen,  are  represented  by  some  of  the  best  of  their 

works,  of  which  it  would  be  labor  lost  to  attempt  to  give 

written  descriptions.      And  this  is  not  the  only  gallery  of 

paintings  in  Amsterdam.     There  is  another,  which  was 

bequeathed  to  the  city  by  one  Van  der  Hoop,  formerly  a 

deputy   to   the    States   Parliament,    and   which   contains 

about  two  hundred  pictures  by  the  first  Dutch  and  Flemish 

artists ;    and  there  are  besides  several  very  rich  private 

collections. 

•X-  *  *  *  *  • 

Napoleon  the  Great  was  bored  in  Amsterdam,  but  I 
firmly  believe  that  it  was  his  own  fault.  I  was  very  well 
amused.  All  those  canals,  bridges,  basins,  and  islands,  form 
so  various  and  picturesque  a  prospect  that  one  is  never 
tired  of  gazing  at  them.  There  are  a  hundred  ways  of 
passing  time  agreeably.  You  go  to  see  the  arrival  of  milk- 
boats  from  Utrecht :  vou  follow  the  bars-es  that  are  trans- 
porting  various  kinds  of  cargo  to  their  destinations,  with 
white-capped  maid-servants  standing  on  the  prow ;  you 
pass  half  an  hour  on  the  tower  of  the  Royal  Palace, 
from  whence  can  be  seen  at  one  glance  the  gulf  of  the 
Y,  the  ancient  lake  of  Haarlem,  the  towers  of  Utrecht, 
the  red  roofs  of  Zand  am,  and  all  that  fantastic  forest  of 
masts  of  vessels,  steeples,  and  mills ;  you  look  on  at  the 
dredging  of  the  canals,  at  the  mending  of  bridges  and 
locks,  at  the  thousand  necessities  of  this  singular  city, 
obliged  to  spend  four  hundred  thousand  florins  a  year  in 
the  governing  of  its  waters ;  and  when  everything  else 


270  HOLLAND, 

fails,  there  is  always  the  spectacle  of  the  servants  of 
both  sexes,  who  with  pumps  and  pipes  are  for  ever  washing 
the  streets  before  the  houses,  the  first-floor  windows,  and 
the  clothes  of  the  passers-by.  In  the  evening,  there  is  the 
street  called  Kalver  Straat,  flanked  by  two  rows  of  splendid 
shops,  and  cafes  half  lighted  up  and  half  plunged  in 
darkness,  where  until  late  at  night  there  swarms  a  dense 
and  slow-moving  crowd  of  people,  full  of  beer  and  money, 
mingled  with  certain  fac-similes  of  cocottes  parading  in 
eccentric  toilettes,  three  or  four  together,  silent  and  smile- 
less,  and  looking  as  if  they  were  meditating  some  aggression. 
"From  the  lighted  and  crowded  streets  you,  in  a  few  mo- 
ments, reach  the  borders  of  dark  canals,  among  motionless 
vessels,  and  the  profoundest  silence.  Crossing  a  bridge, 
you  come  to  a  quarter  where  the  lights  from  subterranean 
cellars  twinkle  and  the  music  of  sailors^  balls  is  heard ; 
and  so  every  moment  the  scene  changes — no  offence  to 
Napoleon  I. 

Such  is  this  famous  city,  whose  history  is  not  less 
strange  than  its  form  and  aspect.  The  poor  fisherman^s 
village  whose  name  in  the  eleventh  century  was  still  un- 
known, in  the  sixteenth  had  become  the  grain  emporium 
for  the  whole  of  southern  Europe  ;  it  depopulated  the 
flourishing  cities  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  gathered  into  its  hands 
the  commerce  of  Venice,  Seville,  Lisbon,  Antwerp,  and 
Bruges,  attracted  merchants  from  all  countries,  received 
the  victims  of  religious  persecutions,  rose  again  from 
beneath  terrible  inundations,  defended  itself  against  the 
Anabaptists,  defeated  the  Earl  of  Leicester's  plots,  gave 
laws  to  William  II.,  repulsed  the  invasion  of  Louis  XIV., 


AMSTERDAM,  271 

and  finally,  like  all  tilings  here  below,  began  to  decline, 
and  shone  once  more  with  ephemeral  glory  as  the  third 
city  of  the  French  empire,  an  honorary  distinction  very 
similar  to  those  crosses  which  are  given  to  discontented 
placemen  to  compensate  them  for  ruinous  changes.  It 
is  still  a  rich  commercial  city ;  but  slow,  circumspect, 
wedded  to  traditions,  and  more  fond  of  playing  on  the 
Exchange  than  of  undertaking  bold  enterprises,  and  a 
grumbling  but  inactive  rival  of  the  more  youthful 
and  hopeful  cities  of  Hamburg  and  Rotterdam.  Never- 
theless,  she  still  lays  claim  to  her  ancient  dignity  of 
conqueror  of  the  seas,  is  still  the  fairest  gem  of  the  United 
Provinces;  and  the  stranger  leaving  her,  carries  away 
with  him  an  impression  of  grandeur  and  power  which  no 
other  European  city  cancels. 


272  HOLLAND. 


UTRECHT. 


From  Amsterdam  it  is  usual  to  go  to  tliat  famous  city 
of  Utrecht,  wliose  name  we  have  so  often  pronounced 
Tvhen  as  boys  we  tried  to  fix  in  our  minds  the  date  of 
1713  in  our  history  lessons.  One  goes  to  Utrecht,  which 
in  itself  offers  nothing  extraordinary  after  having  seen 
other  Dutch  cities — not  so  much  out  of  curiosity  as  to  be 
able,  in  future,  to  refer  to  the  spots  when  recalling  the 
famous  events  which  took  place  within  its  walls.  You  go 
to  breathe  the  air  of  that  place  where  was  completed  the 
most  solemn  act  in  the  history  of  Holland,  the  alliance  of 
the  Netherland  provinces  against  Philip  II. ;  where  the 
treaty  was  signed  which  gave  restored  peace  to  Europe 
after  the  formidable  wars  of  the  Spanish  Succession; 
where  the  innocent  head  of  the  aged  Van  Dieman  fell 
under  the  Duke  of  Alva^s  axe ;  where  memories  of  Saint 
Boniface  are  still  alive  and  speaking,  and  also  those  of 
Adrian  IV.,  Charles  V.,  and  Louis  XIV. ;  and  where  still 
boils  and   bubbles    the    combative    rage  of  the  ancient 


UTRECHT.  273 

bishops,    transfused    into   the   blood    of  orthodox    Cal- 
vinists,  and  ultramontane  Catholics. 

The  road_,  leaving  Amsterdam_,  passes  beside  the  Dim- 
mermeer,  the  jOoMer  (the  drained  lauds  are  csWed  polder)^ 
which  is  the  deepest  in  Holland,  and  runs  along  the  branch 
of  the  Rhine  called  Yecht,  then  winding  among  villas  and 
kitchen-gardens,  reaches  Utrecht,  which  is  seated  in  the 
midst  of  a  most  fertile  country  watered  by  the  Khine, 
crossed  by  canals,  and  sprinkled  with  houses  and  gardens. 
Utrecht,  like  Leyden,  has  the  solemn,  sad  aspect  of  a 
great  city  fallen  into  decadence :  great  deserted  squares, 
broad  silent  streets,  and  wide  canals,  in  which  are  mir- 
rored houses  of  antique  form  and  gloomy  colors.  But 
there  is  one  thing  new  to  the  stranger.  The  canals  are, 
like  the  Arno  at  Florence  and  the  Seine  at  Paris,  deeply 
sunken  between  the  streets  that  flank  them ;  and  beloAv 
the  streets  there  are  shops,  and  workshops  and  stores,  and 
habitations  with  their  doors  opening  on  the  water,  and  the 
street-pavement  for  a  roof.  The  town  is  encircled  by  beau- 
tiful shaded  alleys,  and  has  a  famous  promenade  which 
Louis  XIV.  generously  preserved  from  the  vandalism  of 
his  soldiers — a  street  half  a  French  league  in  length,  shaded 
by  eight  rows  of  beautiful  lindens. 

The  history  of  Utrecht  is  closely  entwined  with  that 
of  its  cathedral,  which  is,  perhaps,  of  all  the  churches  in 
Holland,  the  one  that  has  seen  the  strangest  vicissitudes. 
It  was  founded,  towards  720,  by  a  bishop  of  Utrecht ;  re- 
built from  floor  to  roof  towards  the  middle  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  by  another  bishop;  in  1674,  on  the  1st  of 
August,  a  hurricane  carried  off  completely  one  great  nave 


274  HOLLAND, 

which  has  never  been  rebuilt ;  the  iconoclasts  of  the  six- 
teenth century  devastated  it;  it  was  restored  to  Catholic 
worship  by  the  French  in  the  following  century;  the 
Protestant  faith  was  re  established  in  it  by  the  Dutch 
after  the  invasion  of  Louis  XIV. ;  and  finally,  its  statues, 
its  altars,  and  its  crosses  have  been  carried  off  and  re- 
placed, raised  and  ruined,  venerated  and  abused,  by  every 
change  of  the  wind  of  opinion.  It  was  certainly  at  one 
time  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  of  the  Dutch  churches ; 
now  it  is  bare  and  mutilated,  and  encumbered  in  great 
part  with  benches,  which  give  it  the '  look  of  a  chamber 
of  deputies.  The  hurricane  of  1674,  which  destroyed  a 
nave,  separated  the  church  from  its  very  lofty  tower,  from 
which  can  be  seen,  with  a  telescope,  almost  all  the  pro- 
vinces of  Holland,  a  part  of  Gueldres  and  Brabant, 
Rotterdam,  Amsterdam,  Bois-le-Duc,  the  Leek,  the  gulf 
of  Zuyder  Zee,  whilst  a  clock  furnished  with  forty-two 
bells  shakes  out  into  the  air,  as  it  strikes  the  hours,  the 
amorous  strains  of  Count  Aim  a  viva's  romance,  and  the 
prayer  oi  I  Lombardi  alia  prima  Croceata. 

Near  the  church  is  the  celebrated  university,  founded  in 
1636,  which  still  gives  life  to  the  city,  although  declined, 
like  that  of  Leyden,  from  its  primitive  importance.  The 
University  of  Leyden  has  a  literary  and  scientific  cha- 
racter; that  of  Utrecht  a  religious  character,  which  it 
both  receives  from  and  communicates  to  the  city,  the 
seat  of  Protestant  orthodoxy.  For  this  reason  it  is  said 
that  you  see  in  the  streets  of  Utrecht  the  pallid  and 
attenuated  Puritan  visage  which  has  disappeared  else- 
where, and  which  seems  a  shade  evoked  from  older  times. 


VTIIECHT.  2rci 

The  people  are  graver  of  aspect  than  in  the  otlier  cities, 
ladies  affect  a  nun-like  demeanor,  and  even  among  the  stu- 
dents there  is  a  certain  air  of  penitence  and  reserve,  which, 
however,  docs  not  exclude  beer,  or  banquets,  or  scandal, 
or  evil  practices.  Besides  being  the  seat  of  orthodoxy, 
Utrecht  is  also  one  of  the  strongest  citadels  of  Catholicism, 
professed  by  twenty-two  thousand  of  its  inhabitants  ;  and 
no  one  can  have  forgotten  the  tempest  which  broke  out 
in  Holland  when  the  Pope  wished  to  re-establish  the 
bishopric  of  that  city — a  tempest  which  roused  the  hidden 
rancor  of  Protestants  and  Catholics,  and  overthrew  the 
ministry  of  Zorbecke,  the  little  Cavour  of  the  United  Pro- 
vinces. 

But  in  the  matter  of  religion,  Utrecht  possesses  a 
precious  rarity,  a  curious  archseological  relic,  worthy  of  a 
museum,  the  principal  seat  of  the  Jansenist  sect,  which 
is  no  more  found  in  the  condition  of  a  constituted  church, 
except  in  the  Low  Countries,  where  it  counts  still  thirt}^ 
communities  and  some  thousands  of  believers.  The 
church,  decorated  with  the  simple  inscription  Deo,  rises 
in  the  midst  of  a  group  of  small  houses  disposed  in  the 
form  of  a  cloister,  and  joined  together  by  small  alleys 
shaded  by  fruit-trees ;  and  in  this  silent  and  sad  retreat, 
to  wdiich,  not  many  years  ago,  there  was  but  one  entrance, 
which  was  closed  at  night  and  barred  like  the  gate  of  a 
fortress,  the  decrepit  doctrine  of  Jansen  languishes,  and 
his  last  devotees  doze.  To  this  day  at  each  new  nomina- 
tion of  a  bishop  it  is  regularly  announced  to  the  Sovereign 
Pontiff,  who  responds  as  regularly  with  a  bull  of  excom- 
munication, which  is    read    from    the  pulpit    and  then 


276  HOLLAND. 

buried  and  forgotten.  Thus  this  little  Port-Royal,  wliich 
already  feels  the  silence  and  solitude  of  the  tomb,  still 
continues  to  prolong  its  last  resistance  against  death. 

Of  notable  public  institutions  Utrecht  has  none  but 
the  mint  and  a  college  for  military  surgeons  for  the  king- 
dom and  colonies.  The  antique  factories,  for  the  making 
of  that  beautiful  velvet  once  famous  in  Europe,  have  dis- 
appeared. Except  the  cathedral  there  are  no  public 
monuments.  The  City  Hall,  which  preserves  some  ancient 
keys  and  some  old  standards,  together  with  the  table  on 
which  the  peace  of  Utrecht  was  signed,  was  built  in  1830. 
The  Royal  Palace,  which  I  did  not  see,  must  be  one  of 
the  most  modest  of  palaces,  for  the  guides,  who  are  not 
apt  to  overlook  anything,  did  not  point  it  out  to  me. 

This  palace,  however,  if  tradition  does  not  lie,  was  the 
scene  of   a  comic   adventure    that    befell    Napoleon   the 
Great.     During  his  very  brief  sojourn  at  Utrecht  he  oc- 
cupied  the  bedroom    of    his    brother  Louis,  which  was 
contiguous  to  the  bath-room.     It  is  known  that,  wherever 
he  went,  he  took  with  him  one  servant  whose  exclusive 
duty  it  was  to  have  a  bath  in  readiness  for  him  at  anv 
hour  of  the  day  or  night.     On  the  evening  of  his  arrival 
at  Utrecht,  in  a  bad   humor,  as  was  usual  with  him  in 
Holland,  he  went   to  bed   early,  and,  whether  by  inad- 
vertence or  design  the  story  does  not  tell,  left  the  door  of 
his  chamber  open.     The  bath-servant,  who  was  a  good- 
natured  Breton,  after  having  prepared  the  bath,  went  to 
bed  also  in  a  small  room  not  far  from  the  imperial  chamber. 
Towards  midnight,  awakened  by  sudden  pain,  and  obliged 
to  leave  his  bed  in  a  hurry,  half  asleep  and  in  his  shirt 


UTRECHT.  277 

he  brgan  feeling  about  for  the  door  of  his  room.  He 
found  it,  hut  J  for  his  evil  fortune,  instead  of  going  where 
he  wished,  he  found  the  door  of  the  Emperor's  room  and 
went  in,  overturning  a  chair  in  tlie  darkness.  A  terrible 
voice — that  voice  ! — called  out,  ^'  Who 's  there  ?  "  The 
poor  fellow,  frozen  with  fear,  tried  to  answer,  but  the 
words  died  in  his  throat ;  he  attempted  to  get  out  by  the 
way  he  had  come,  but  the  door  was  not  to  be  found; 
bewildered  and  terrified  he  sought  it  on  the  other  side. 
"  Who's  there?'''  thundered  the  Emperor,  jumping  out  of 
bed.  The  servant,  now  completely  out  of  his  wits,  tum- 
bled over  chairs  and  tables,  and  vainly  tried  to  escape. 
Then  Napoleon,  no  longer  doubting  that  treason  was  at 
work,  seized  his  large  silver  watch,  threw  it  at  the  head 
of  the  intruder,  and  seizing  him  by  the  throat,  and  shout- 
ing with  what  voice  he  had  left,  pounded  the  man's  head 
with  formidable  blows.  Then  came  running  the  valets, 
the  chamberlains,  the  aides-de-camp,  the  prelect  of  the 

palace,  with  weapons   and   lights,  and  saw the   great 

Napoleon  and  the  poor  serving-man,  both  in  their  shirts, 
in  the  midst  of  the  most  infernal  disorder,  and  looking 
in  each  other's  faces,  the  one  in  profound  amazement,  the 
other  in  humble  supplication,  as  in  a  pantomime.  The 
news  of  the  event  ran  all  over  Europe;  as  is  usual,  it 
grew  as  it  spread ;  there  was  talk  of  an  attempt  on  the 
Emperor's  life,  a  conspiracy,  an  assassination  accomplished, 
Napoleon  in  his  grave,  the  universe  convulsed — and  all 
this  to-do  was  caused  by  a  poor  servant's  bad  supper. 

But   the  prince  who  has  left    the  most  memories  in 
Utrecht  is  Louis  XIV.     The  French  say,  you  must  go 


278  HOLLAND. 

to  Utrecht  to  see  the  reverse  of  the  medal  of  the  great 
king;  and  this  reverse  of  the  medal  is  the  war  of  1670, 
during  which  he  made  a  long  sojourn  in  that  city. 

On  the  reverse  side  of  the  medal  of  Louis  XIV.  is 
written  one  of  the  most  glorious  and  pathetic  pages  of  the 
history  of  Holland. 

France  and  England  entered  into  an  alliance  for  the 
conquest  of  Holland.  For  what  reason  ?  There  was  no 
reason.  To  the  States- General  demanding  the  wherefor, 
the  ministers  of  the  King  of  France  replied  alleging  im- 
pertinences in  the  gazettes_,  and  a  medal  struck  in  Hol- 
land with  an  inscription  wanting  in  reverence  towards 
Louis  XIV.  The  King  of  England^  on  his  side_,  adduced 
as  pretexts  a  picture  in  which  English  vessels  were  repre- 
sented as  captured  and  burned,  and  the  failure  of  the 
Dutch  fleet  to  salute  an  English  ship.  They  spent  fifty 
millions  of  francs  in  getting  ready  for  the  war.  France 
sent  out  thirty  vessels  loaded  with  cannon,  and  England 
added  a  fleet  of  one  hundred  sail.  To  the  French  army, 
one  hundred  thousand  strong,  men  disciplined  and  accus- 
tomed to  war,  and  accompanied  by  a  formidable  artillery, 
were  joined  the  army  of  the  Bishop  of  Munster  and  the 
Elector  of  Cologne,  numbering  twenty  thousand  swords. 
The  generals  were  Conde,  Turenne,  Vauban,  and  Lux- 
embourg; Minister  Louvois  presided  over  the  staff";  the 
historian  Pelisson  followed  with  the  task  of  writing  down 
the  actions ;  Louis  XIV.,. the  greatest  king  of  the  century, 
surrounded  by  a  splendid  court,  escorted,  like  an  Asiatic 
monarch,  by  a  phalanx  of  gentlemen,  cadets  of  noble 
houses,  and  plumed  and  gilded  Swiss,  accompanied  the 


UTRECHT.  279 

army.  All  this  force  and  this  greatness^  enough  to  crush 
an  empire,  threatened  a  little  country  abandoned  to  itself, 
defended  only  by  twenty-five  thousand  soldiers  and  by  a 
Prince  only  twenty-two  years  of  age,  unprovided  with 
munitions  of  war,  torn  by  factions,  infested  by  spies  and 
traitors.  War  is  declared  ;  the  splendid  army  of  the  great 
king  begins  its  triumphal  march;  Europe  looks  on. 
Louis  XIV.,  at  the  head  of  thirty  thousand  soldiers 
commanded  by  Turenne,  scatters  gold  and  favors  all 
along  the  way,  like  a  god.  Four  cities  fall  at  once  into 
his  hands.  All  the  fortresses  of  the  Rhine  and  the  Yssel 
fall  also.  At  the  approach  of  the  pompous  royal  van- 
guard, the  enemy  melts  away  before  it.  The  invading 
army  crosses  the  Rhine  almost  without  encountering  re- 
sistance, and  the  passage  is  celebrated  as  a  marvellous 
event,  with  the  army,  at  Paris,  and  all  over  France.  Does- 
burg,  Zutphen,  Arnhem,  Nosemburg,  Nimegnen,  Shenk, 
Bommel  fall.  Utrecht  sends  the  keys  of  her  gates  to 
the  victorious  king.  Every  hour  of  the  day  and  night 
brings  news  of  a  victory.  The  provinces  of  Gueldres  and 
Over- Yssel  submit.  Narden,  near  Amsterdam,  is  taken. 
Four  French  cavaliers  advance  even  to  the  gates  of  Mui- 
den,  which  is  only  two  miles  from  the  capital.  The 
country  is  a  prey  to  despair,  Amsterdam  is  preparing  to 
open  her  gates  to  the  invaders,  the  States-General  sends 
four  deputies  to  implore  the  clemency  of  the  king.  To 
such  a  pass  i*  reduced  the  country  that  was  once  the 
arbitrator  of  monarchs  !  The  deputies  arriving  at  the 
enemy^s  camp,  the  king  will  not  admit  them  to  his  pre- 
sence, and  Louvois  receives  them  with  derision. 


280  HOLLAND. 

Finally _,  the  conditions  of  peace  are  intimated  to  them. 
Holland  is  to  cede  all  the  provinces  beyond  the  Rhine, 
and  all  roads  by  land  or  sea  by  which  the  enemy  can 
penetrate  into  her  heart;  to  pay  twenty  millions  of 
francs ;  to  embrace  the  Catholic  religion ;  to  send  every 
year  to  the  King  of  France  a  gold  medal,  upon  which 
it  shall  be  inscribed  that  Holland  owes  her  libertv  to 
Louis  XIV. ;  and  to  accept  conditions  imposed  by  the 
King  of  England  and  the  Princes  of  Munster  and 
Cologne.  The  announcement  of  these  outrageous  and 
insupportable  pretensions  produces  in  Amsterdam  an 
outburst  of  despair  and  fury.  The  States- General,  the 
nobles,  and  the  people,  resolve  to  defend  themselves  to 
the  very  last.  The  dykes  of  Muiden,  which  restrain  the 
sea,  are  cut,  and  the  sea,  breaking  in  upon  the  land,  is 
received  with  shouts  of  joy,  as  an  ally  and  -a  saviour; 
the  country  around  Amsterdam,  the  innumerable  villas 
and  flourishing  villages.  Delft,  Leyden,  and  all  the  neigh- 
bouring cities,  are  inundated ;  everything  is  changed ; 
Amsterdam  is  a  fortress  encircled  by  the  sea  and  de- 
fended by  a  bulwark  of  ships;  Holland  is  no  longer  a 
State,  it  is  a  fleet,  which,  when  every  other  hope  of 
safety  shall  have  perished,  will  carry  the  wealth,  the 
magistrates,  and  the  honor  of  the  country  to  the  remote 
ports  of  the  colonies.  Admiral  de  Ruyter  scatters  the 
French  and  English  fleets,  makes  secure  the  coasts  of 
PloUand,  and  introduces  the  Indian  mercantile  fleet  into 
the  port  of  the  island  of  Texel.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
gives  up  his  property  to  the  State,  inundates  more  lands, 
start]  3s  Spain ;  moves   the    Governor   of    Flanders,    who 


UTBECHT.  281 

sends  him  some  regiments ;  wins  the  heart  of  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany,  who  sends  to  his  help  Monteeuccoli 
at  the  head  of  twenty  thousand  men;  gets  aid  from  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg,  and  persuades  England  to  peace. 
Thus  he  holds  front  against  the  French  until  the  winter, 
which  covers  Holland  with  ice  and  snow,  and  checks  the 
invading  army.  But  at  the  approach  of  spring  the  fight 
begins  once  more  on  sea  and  land.  Sometimes  fortune 
smiles  on  the  French  arms ;  but  neither  the  care  of  the 
great  king,  nor  the  genius  of  his  famous  generals,  nor  the 
efforts  of  his  powerful  army  avail  to  wrest  victory  from 
the  Republic.  Conde  in  vain  attempts  to  penetrate  into 
tlie  heart  of  the  submerged  country  j  Turenne  cannot 
prevent  the  Prince  of  Orange  from  making  a  junction  with 
the  armv  of  Monteeuccoli  :  the  Dutch  take  Bonn  and 
invest  the  Bishop  of  ^funster ;  the  King  of  England  with- 
draws from  the  league  ;  the  French  army  is  constrained  to 
retire  from  the  enterprise.  The  invasion  had  been  a 
triumphal  march  :  the  retreat  was  a  precipitous  flight. 
The  triumphal  arches  which  were  being  built  at  Paris  to 
celebrate  the  victory  were  not  yet  completed  when  the 
vanguard  of  the  discomfited  army  arrived  there  ;  and 
Louis  XIV.,  upon  whom  Europe  smiled  at  the  beginning  of 
the  war,  found  himself  opposed  by  all.  Such  a  triumph 
did  little  Holland  carry  off  over  the  Grande  Monarque ; 
love  of  country  over  the  rage  for  conquest,  despair  over 
arrogance,  justice  over  force. 

A  few  miles  from  Utrecht,  near  a  beautiful  wood,  is  the 
village  of  Zeist,  which  is  approached  by  a  road  bordered 
with  the  parks  and  country  houses  of  the  rich  merchanta 


282  HOLLAND. 

of  Rotterdam.  In  this  village  there  is  a  colony  of  those 
renowned  brothers  of  Bohemia,,  or  Moravian  brothers^  a 
religious  sect  derived  from  those  founded  by  Valdus  and 
John  Huss,  which  turned  Europe  upside  down.  T  had  a 
desire  to  see  the  direct  descendants  of  those  Waldensians 
and  Hussites  "  who  were  burned  on  all  the  piles^  hanged 
on  all  the  gallows,  nailed  on  all  the  crosses^  broken  on  all 
the  wheels,  torn  in  pieces  by  all  the  horses/'  and  I  made 
an  excursion  to  Zeist.  This  Moravian  house  was  founded 
towards  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  and  contains  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  men,  women,  and  children.  Tlie 
aspect  of  the  place  is  as  austere  as  the  lives  of  its  in- 
habitants. There  are  two  spacious  courtyards,  separated 
by  a  wide  street,  each  one  of  which  is  enclosed  on  three 
sides  by  a  great  building  as  bare  as  a  barrack.  In  one  of 
these  buildings  are  the  married  couples  and  unmarried 
men,  and  the  schools ;  in  the  other,  the  widows  and  girls, 
tlie  church,  the  pastor,  and  the  head  of  the  community. 
The  ground-floor  is  occupied  by  shops,  containing  mer- 
chandise, partly  the  work  of  the  Moravians,  such  as 
gloves,  soap,  candles,  &c.,  partly  purchased  to  be  sold 
again  at  fixed  and  very  moderate  prices.  The  church  is 
nothing  but  a  great  hall,  with  two  tribunes  for  strangers, 
and  some  rough  benches  for  the  brothers.  The  interior 
of  the  two  buildings  is  like  that  of  a  convent,  with  long  cor- 
ridors bordered  by  small  cells  in  which  each  brother  lives 
in  profound  meditation,  working  and  praying.  Their 
lives  are  of  the  strictest.  They  profess,  at  least  ostensibly, 
the  Augsburg  Confession.  They  admit  original  sin,  but 
in  the  faith  that  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ  has  absolutely 


VTEECUT.  283 

purified  humanity.  They  believe  that  the  unity  of  the 
Church  consists  more  in  the  charity  wliich  shoukl  unite 
all  the  disciples  of  Christ  in  one  single  mind  and  one 
single  heart_,  than  in  uniformity  of  faith.  They  practise, 
in  a  certain  sense,  community  of  goods^  and  bring  voluntary 
offerings  to  the  common  fund.  All  necessary  professions 
are  exercised  amopg  themselves  :  doctors,  nurses,  teachers, 
&c.  The  Superior  can  punish  by  a  reproof,  by  excommu- 
nication, or  by  expulsion  from  the  community.  The 
occupations  of  the  day  are  regulated  as  in  a  college : 
prayer,  private  meeting,  reading,  work,  religious  exercises, 
at  certain  fixed  hours,  and  among  the  brethren  of  the 
classes  named.  To  srive  an  idea  of  the  order  which  reii;ns 
among  them,  I  may  point  out,  among  many  other  peculiar 
customs,  that  the  different  conditions  of  the  women  are 
indicated  by  differently  colored  ribbons  worn  upon  the  head. 
Girls  wear  a  bright  rose-colored  ribbon  until  the  age  of 
ten,  a  red  ribbon  until  eighteen,  and  a  pale  red  one  until 
their  marriage;  married  women  wear  a  blue  ribbon,  and 
widows  a  white  one.  Thus  in  that  society  everything  is 
classed,  established,  measured ;  life  goes  on  with  the  regu- 
larity of  a  machine ;  man  moves  like  an  automaton  ; 
rules  take  the  place  of  will,  and  the  clock  governs  thought. 
When  I  entered  the  building  I  saw  no  one  but  two  ser- 
vants standing  at  the  threshold,  and  one  girl  with  a  red 
ribbon  at  a  window.  The  courtyards  were  deserted,  no 
siom  of  life  was  there,  not  even  a  flv  buzzed.  I  looked 
here  and  there,  as  one  looks  at  a  cemetery  through  the 
bars  of  a  gate,  and  went  thoughtfully  back  to  TTtrecht. 


284  EOLLAND. 


BROEK. 


From  the  moment  that  I  began  writing  the  first  pages  of 
this  book  I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  encouraging  myself 
to  proceed  by  thinking  of  the  pleasure  I  should  experi- 
ence upon  my  first  arrival  at  the  village  of  Broek.  I  had 
my  days  of  discouragement  and  fatigue^  when  I  was  ready 
to  throw  the  whole  manuscript  into  the  fire;  but  the 
thought  of  Broek  was  always  enough  to  revive  me  from 
that  prostration  of  soul.  The  image  of  Broek  was  my 
polar  star.  "  How  long  before  we  arrive  at  Broek  ? " 
asked  my  friends  at  home^  smiling.  And  I  answered, 
with  a  sigh,  "Two  months  more;  twenty  days;  a  week." 
Here  I  am  at  last  at  the  day  so  much  desired.  I  am 
happy  and  impatient;  I  should  like  to  express  myself  at 
once  with  pen^  pencil^  and  voice.  I  have  a  hundred 
things  to  tell^  and  I  do  not  know  where  to  begin ;  and  I 
laugh  at  myself,  as  my  readers  will  doubtless  laugh  at 
me. 

In  the  different  cities  where  I  had  been,  from  Rotter- 


BEOEK.  285 

dam  to  Amsterdam,  I  had  heard  more  than  once  of  the 
village  of  Broek,  hut  always  in  a  way  to  tickle  my 
curiosity  rather  than  to  satisfy  it.  The  name  of  Brock 
pronounced  among  a  group  of  people  always  raised  a 
laugh.  AVhen  I  asked  why  they  laughed,  I  got  the  dry 
answer,  "  Because  it  is  ridiculous.^'  One  person,  at  tlie 
Hague,  had  said  to  me,  half  pleasantly  and  half  annoyed. 
"Oh,  when  wilh  strangers  have  done  with  that  blessed 
Brock  ?  Is  there  nothing  else  for  them  to  quiz  us 
about?''  At  Amsterdam,  the  landlord  of  my  hotel, 
tracing  out  for  me  on  the  map  the  way  to  Brock,  laughed 
in  his  beard  with  an  air  as  if  he  were  saying, '^^  How 
childish  !  ■"  I  had  asked  for  information  from  various 
people,  and  they  had  one  and  all  refused  to  give  it,  shaking 
their  heads,  and  saying, '*■  You  will  see."  Only  from  a 
few  words  dropped  here  and  there  had  I  been  able  to 
gather  that  Brock  was  a  very  queer  place,  famous  for  its 
oddity  since  the  last  century,  described,  illustrated, 
derided,  and  made  by  foreigners  a  pretext  for  an  infinite 
number  of  jokes  and  stories  against  the  Hollanders. 

My  curiosit}^  may  be  imagined.  Enough  to  say  that  I 
dreamed  of  Broek  every  night,  and  that  the  description 
of  all  the  fantastic,  wonderful,  and  impossible  villages 
which  I  saw  in  my  dreams  would  fill  a  volume.  Ii  was 
with  an  effort  that  I  gave  precedence  to  Utrecht,  and  had 
no  sooner  returned  to  Amsterdam  than  I  started  for  the 
mysterious  village 

Broek  is  in  North  Holland,  about  halfway  between 
Edam  and  Amsterdam,  and  not  far  from  the  shore  of  the 
Zuyder  Zee.      I  had  then  to  cross  the  gulf  of  the  Y,  and 


286  HOLLAND. 

go  through  a  portion  of  the  Northern  canal.  I  em- 
barked early  in  one  of  the  small  steamboats  which  leave 
every  hour  of  the  day  for  Alkmaar  and  Helder,  and  in  a 
few  minutes  reached  the  Grand  canal. 

This  is  the  largest  canal  in  Holland^  and  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  works  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  Europe. 
Everyone  knows  in  what  way  and  with  what  purpose  it 
was  opened.  Formerly  to  reach  the  port  of  Amsterdam, 
large  vessels  had  to  cross  the  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee,  which 
is  obstructed  by  sand-banks  and  agitated  by  storms.  The 
crossing,  long  and  full  of  peril,  was  especiall}^  difficult  at 
the  point  where  the  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee  joins  that  of  the 
Y,  by  reason  of  a  great  sand-bank  called  Pampus,  which 
large  vessels  could  not  get  over  except  by  unshipping  a 
part  of  their  cargo,  and  being  towed,  with  great  loss  of 
time  and  at  great  expense.  To  open  an  easier  way  to  the 
port  of  Amsterdam,  there  was  constructed  this  great  canal 
which  runs  from  the  gulf  of  the  Y  into  the  North  sea, 
crossing  the  whole  of  North  Holland,  almost  eighty  kilo- 
metres in  length,  forty  wide,  six  deep.  It  was  begun  in 
1819,  finished  in  18.25,  and  cost  thirty  millions  of  francs. 
Thanks  to  this  canal,  in  favorable  weather  the  largest 
ships  can  go  in  four-and-twenty  hours  from  the  North  Sea 
to  the  port  of  Amsterdam.  Nevertheless,  the  city  is  still, 
in  comparison  to  other  maritime  cities,  in  a  position  of 
disadvantage  with  regard  to  commerce,  since  the  entrance 
to  the  Northern  canal,  near  the  island  of  Texel,  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult;  ships  have  to  be  towed  even  in  the  canal 
itself,  so  that  transit,  up  as  well  as  down,  costs  about  a 
thousand  francs  ;  and  in  severe  winters  the  water  freezes. 


BBOEK.  287 

navigation  is  impeded  and  delayed,  and  sometimes  as 
mueh  as  thirty  thousand  florins  is  spent  in  opening  a 
passage.  But  the  courage  of  the  Hollanders  is  not 
arrested  even  in  the  face  of  such  difficulties,  and  it  has 
opened  a  new  road  to  commerce.  Another  canal,  wLich 
is  now  in  course  of  construction,  will  cross  the  gulf  of  the 
Y  in  the  direction  of  its  greatest  length,  cross  the  downs, 
and  come  out  into  the  sea  near  the  village  of  Wyk-aan- 
zee,  separating  North  Holland  from  the  continent.  This 
canal  will  be  twenty-five  kilometres  in  length  and  as  wide 
as  the  Suez  canal ;  by  it  ships  can  reach  Amsterdam  from 
the  sea  in  two  hours  and  a  half;  a  large  part  of  the  gulf 
of  the  Y,  filled  up  with  the  material  taken  from  the  canal, 
will  be  converted  into  ground  capable  of  cultivation ;  and 
thus  the  way  will  be  for  ever  closed  against  inundations 
by  the  sea,  by  which  Amsterdam  is  constantly  threatened. 
The  works,  begun  in  1866,  are  almost  finished;  and 
already  on  the  25th  of  September  1872,  a  vessel  belong- 
ing to  the  society  that  carries  on  the  enterprise  passed 
triumphantly  through  the  new  canal,  joyfully  saluted  by 
the  city  as  the  herald  of  prosperity  and  fortune. 

Hardly  had  the  steamboat  passed  beyond  the  monu- 
mental gates  of  the  Northern  canal,  when  the  gulf,  the 
port,  Amsterdam  itself,  all  vanished  from  my  gaze ;  for  at 
this  point  the  waters  of  the  canal  are  almost  three  metres 
lower  than  the  level  of  the  sea ;  and  I  could  see  only  a 
myriad  of  topmasts,  points  of  steeples,  and  the  ends  of 
the  wings  of  windmills,  rising  above  the  lofty  dykes 
between  which  we  were  gliding.  From  time  to  time  we 
passed  through  a  narrow  lock,  shut  in  between  high  walls, 


288  HOLLAND. 

not  even  the  horizon  visible ;  we  seemed  to  be  steaming 
through  the  intricacies  of  some  submerged  fortress.  After 
half  an  hour  of  this  furtive  navigation,  we  reached  a  village, 
a  real  enigma  of  a  village,  made  up  of  a  few  small  colored 
houses  ranged  along  a  dyke,  and  almost  entirely  concealed 
by  a  row  of  trees  cut  in  the  form  of  fans  and  planted  in  front 
of  the  houses  as  if  to  defend  them  from  the  indiscreet  gaze 
of  curious  passengers.  The  steamboat  was  passed  through 
another  lock  and  came  out  into  the  open  country,  where 
an  entirely  new  spectacle  presented  itself.  The  waters  of 
the  canal,  being  much  more  elevated  than  the  surrounding 
country,  the  boat  was  on  a  level  with  the  tops  of  the  trees 
and  the  roof-ridges  of  the  houses  which  bordered  the 
dykes ;  and  the  people  walking  in  the  roads  turned  their 
faces  upwards  to  look  at  us,  as  we  had  rallied  ours  a  little 
while  before  to  look  at  persons  walking  on  the  dykes.  We 
met  vessels  towed  by  horses,  barges  towed  by  the  entire 
family,  ranged  in  a  line  by  order  of  age,  from  the  grand- 
father down  to  the  youngest  child,  and  the  dog  ;  steam- 
boats coming  from  Alkmaar  and  Helder,  full  of  peasant 
women  wearing  the  gold  circlet  on  their  heads  ;  and  every- 
where over  the  fields  we  could  see  the  sails  of  boats 
gliding  about  in  the  hidden  canals,  and  looking  as  if  they 
were  sailing  on  the  grass. 

Arrived  at  my  destination  I  landed  and  waited  to  see 
the  steamboat  go  on  before  I  took  the  road  alone  to 
Broek,  flanked  on  the  left  by  a  canal,  and  on  the  right 
by  a  hedge.  I  had  an  hour's  walk  before  me.  The 
country  was  green,  striped  by  many  canals,  sprinkled 
with  groups  o£    trees  and  windmills,  and  as  silent  as  a 


BROEK.  289 

steppe.  Beautiful  black  and  white  cows  wandered  at 
will^  uutended  by  anyone,  or  reposed  upon  the  banks  of 
the  canals ;  flocks  of  ducks  and  white  geese  swam  about 
the  basins;  and  here  and  there  a  boat,  rowed  by  a 
peasant,  darted  through  a  canal  between  the  meadows. 
That  vast  plain,  animated  by  a  life  so  mute  and  tran- 
quil, inspired  me  with  a  feeling  of  such  sweet  peace, 
that  the  softest  music  would  have  disturbed  me  there 
like  an  importunate  noise. 

After  half  an  hour's  walk,  although  no  sign  of  Broek 
appeared  beyond  the  top  of  a  tall  steeple,  I  began  to 
see  here  and  there  something  which  announced  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  a  village.  The  road  ran  along  a  dyke,  and 
upon  the  side  of  it  there  were  a  few  houses.  One  of 
these,  a  wooden  hutch  whose  roof  scarcely  reached  to 
the  level  of  the  road — a  rough,  disjointed,  tumble-down 
place,  more  like  a  kennel  than  a  house — had  a  little  win- 
dow with  a  smart  white  curtain  tied  up  with  a  bow  of  blue 
ribbon,  and  showing  through  the  panes  a  little  table 
covered  with  cups,  glasses,  flowers,  and  shining  trifles.  A 
little  further  on  I  saw  two  posts  planted  in  the  ground 
and  supporting  a  hedge,  which  were  painted  in  blue  and 
white  stripes  like  the  banner-poles  which  are  erected  for 
public  festivals;  and  still  beyond,  I  came  upon  another 
peasant's  house,  before  which  were  displayed  small  buckets, 
benches,  rakes,  shovels,  and  picks — all  painted  red,  blue, 
white,  yellow,  and  striped  and  bordered  with  contrasting 
colors,  like  the  utensils  of  a  mountebank.  As  I  went  on 
I  saw  other  rustic  houses  with  their  windows  ornamented 
with  net  curtains  and  ribbons,  with  little  movable  mirrors. 


200  HOLLAND. 

and  toys  hung  up  ;  tlieir  doors  and  window-frames  painted 
in  bright  colors.  The  brightness  and  variety  of  tints,  the 
cleanliness  and  shining  neatness  of  everything  increased 
as  I  advanced.  I  saw  embroidered  white  curtains  with 
rose-colored  bows  in  the  windows  of  a  mill ;  the  nails  and 
metal  bands  of  the  carts  and  agricultural  implements 
shone  like  silver ;  the  wooden  houses  were  painted  red'and 
white;  the  windows  were  bordered  with  stripes  of  two  or 
three  colors ;  and  finally,  strangest  of  all,  trees  with  their 
trunks  colored  bright  blue  from  the  root  to  the  first 
branches. 

Laughing  to  myself  at  this  last  oddity,  I  arrived  at  a 
large  basin  of  the  canal  surrounded  by  thick  and  leafy- 
trees,  beyond  which,  on  the  other  side,  arose  a  steeple. 
I  looked  about  and  discovered  a  boy  lying  on  the  grass. 
"  Broek  ?  '^  inquired  I.  "  Broek,'^  he  responded,  laughing. 
Then  I  looked,  and  beheld  amid  the  green  of  the  trees 
such  a  show  of  harlequin  colors,  that  I  could  only  cry  out 
in  astonishment.  Skirting  the  basin  and  crossing  a  small 
bridge  of  wood  as  white  as  snow,  I  entered  a  narrow  road. 
I  looked.  Broek  !  Broek  !  I  knew  it,  there  was  no  mis- 
take ;  it  could  not  be  any  other  than  Broek. 

Imagine  a/>re5fj9io  ^  made  of  pasteboard  by  a  boy  of  eight 
years  old,  a  city  made  for  the  show-window  of  a  Nurem- 
burg  toy-shop,  a  village  constructed  by  a  ballet-master 
after  the  drawing  on  a  Chinese  fan,  a  collection  of 
barracks  of     wealthy  mountebanks,   a  group  of   houses 


*  Presepio  :  a  representation  of  the  manger  where  Christ  was  bom  | 
Been  in  the  churches  at  Christmas, 


BROEK,  291 

made  for  the  scenes  of  a  puppet-theatre,  the  fancy  of 
an  Oriental  drunk  with  opium,  something  which  makes 
you  think  of  Japan,  India_,  Tartary,  and  Switzerlaad  all 
at  once,  with  a  touch  of  Pompadour  rococo,  and  somctliing 
of  the  constructions  in  sug;ir  that  one  sees  in  a  confec- 
tioner's window ;  a  mixture  of  the  barbaric,  the  pretty,  the 
presumptuous,  the  ingenious,  and  the  silly,  which,  while 
it  offends  good  taste,  provokes  at  the  same  time  a  good- 
natured  laugh ;  imagine,  in  short,  the  most  chiUlish  extra- 
vagance to  which  the  name  of  village  can  be  given,  and 
you  will  have  a  faint  idea  of  Brock. 

All  the  houses  are  surrounded  by  small  gardens, 
separated  from  the  street  by  a  sky-blue  paling,  in  the 
form  of  a  bahistrade,  with  wooden  apples  and  oranges  on 
the  top  of  the  pales.  The  streets  bordered  by  these 
palings  are  very  narrow,  and  paved  with  tiny  bricks  of 
various  colors,  set  edge-wise  and  combined  in  different 
designs,  so  that,  at  a  distance,  the  street  seems  to  be 
carpeted  with  Cashmere  shawls.  The  houses,  for  the 
most  part  built  of  wood,  and  all  of  one  storey  only,  and 
very  small,  are  rose-colored,  black,  grey,  purple,  blue, 
and  grass- green ;  their  roofs  are  covered  with  painted  tiles 
disposed  in  squares  of  different  colors ;  the  eaves  orna- 
mented with  a  kind  of  wooden  festoon,  carved  in  open 
work  ;  the  fagades  pointed,  with  a  little  flag  at  the  top,  or 
a  small  lance,  or  something  reseml)ling  a  bunch  of  flowers; 
the  windows  with  red  and  blue  glass,  and  having  curtains 
decorated  with  embroidery,  ribbons,  fringes,  and  a  display 
of  cups,  and  vases,  and  toys  within  ;  the  doors  painted 
and  gilded,  and  surmounted  with   all  sorts  of  bas-reliefs 


292  HOLLAND. 

representing  flowers,  figures,  and  trophies,  in  the  midst 
of  which  can  be  read  the  name  and  profession  of  the 
proprietor.  Almost  all  the  houses  have  two  doors^  one 
front  and  one  hack — the  latter  for  every-day  use,  the 
other  for  solemn  occasions,  such  as  a  birth,  a  deaths  or  a 
marriage. 

The  gardens  are  not  less  odd  than  the  houses.  They 
seem  made  for  dwarfs.  The  paths  are  scarcely 
wide  enough  for  the  feet,  the  arbors  can  contain  two 
very  small  persons  standing  close  together,  the  box 
horders  would  not  reach  the  knee  of  a  child  of  four  years 
old.  Between  the  arbors  and  the  tiny  flower-beds  there 
are  little  canals,  apparently  made  for  toy-boats,  which  are 
spanned  here  and  there  hy  superfluous  bridges  with  little 
painted  railings  and  columns  ;  basins  about  as  large  as  an 
ordinary  sitz-bath  contain  a  liliputian  boat  tied  by  a  red 
cord  to  a  sky-blue  post;  tiny  steps,  paths,  gates,  and 
lattices  abound,  each  of  which  can  be  measured  with  the 
hand,  or  knocked  down  with  a  blow  of  the  fist,  or  jumped 
over  with  ease.  Around  houses  and  gardens  stand  trees 
cut  in  the  shape  of  fans,  plumes,  discs,  &c.,  with  their 
trunks  painted  white  and  blue,  and  here  and  there  appears 
a  little  wooden  house  for  a  domestic  animal,  painted, 
gilded,  and  carved  like  a  house  in  a  puppet-show. 

After  a  glance  at  the  first  houses  and  gardens,  T  ad- 
vanced into  the  village.  There  was  not  a  living  soul  in 
the  streets,  or  at  the  windows.  All  doors  were  closed, 
all  curtains  drawn,  all  canals  deserted,  all  boats  motion- 
less. The  village  is  so  constructed  that  from  no  point 
can  more  tban  four  or  five  houses  be  seen  at  a  time;  con- 


BEOEK.  293 

scquently,  at  every  step  a  new  scene  is  discovered,  a  new 
combination  of  bright  colors,  a  new  caprice,  a  new 
absurdity.  One  expects  every  moment  to  see  the  doors 
fly  open  and  a  population  of  automatons  come  forth  with 
cymbals  and  tambourines  in  their  hands,  like  the  figures 
on  hand-organs.  Fifty  paces  carry  you  around  a  house, 
over  a  bridge,  through  a  garden,  and  back  to  your 
starting  point.  A  child  looks  like  a  man,  and  a  man 
appears  a  giant.  Everything  is  tiny,  compressed,  smooth, 
colored,  childish,  and  unnatural.  At  first  you  laugh; 
then  comes  the  thought  that  the  inhabitants  of  this  village 
believe  j^ou  find  it  beautiful.  The  caricature  seems  odious 
to  you;  the  owners  of  the  houses  are  all  idiots ;  you  would 
like  to  tell  them  that  their  famous  Broek  is  an  insult  to 
art  and  nature,  and  that  there  is  in  it  neither  good  taste 
nor  good  sense.  But  when  you  have  relieved  jour  mind 
a  little  in  this  way,  the  laugh  returns  and  prevails. 

After  having  walked  about  for  a  while  without  meeting 
anyone,  I  began  to  wish  to  see  the  inside  of  one  of  these 
houses.  Whilst  I  looked  about  in  search  of  some  hos- 
pitable soul,  I  heard  someone  call  ''  Monsieur  !  "  and  turn- 
ing, saw  a  woman  in  a  door-way,  who  asked  me,  timidly, 
"  Would  you  wish  to  see  a  private  house  ?  '^  I  accepted, 
and  the  woman,  leaving  her  wooden-shoes  outside,  as  is  the 
custom  in  this  country,  led  me  in.  She  was  a  poor  widow, 
she  told  me,  and  had  only  one  room  ;  but  what  a  room ! 
The  floor  was  covered  with  clean  matting ;  the  furniture 
shone  like  ebony,  all  the  little  points  of  metal  here  and 
there  looked  like  silver.  The  clnmney  was  a  real  temple, 
lined  with   colored  tiles,  and  as  clean  and  polished  as  if 


294  HOLLAND. 

it  had  never  seen  a  fire.  Not  seeing  any  bed,  I  asked  the 
Sood  woman  where  she  slept.  She  immediately  opened  a 
folding  door  in  the  wall  which  was  concealed  by  the 
paper.  The  bed  (in  this  case  as  in  all  others)  was  shnt 
in  a  kind  o£  closet  in  the  thickness  of  the  wall,  and 
consisted  of  a  mattress  or  two  laid  upon  the  lower  part  of 
the  same  wall,  without  any  bedstead — a  convenient  bed  in 
winter,  but  suffocating,  one  would  think,  in  summer. 
She  showed  me  the  utensils  for  cleaning  the  room — 
enough  to  set  up  a  shop;  brooms,  brushes,  toothbrushes, 
cloths,  scrapers,  dustpans,  pokers,  shovels,  feather 
brushes,  aquafortis,  Spanish  white  for  the  window-panes, 
Venetian  red  for  the  knives,  coal-dust  for  the  copper 
vessels,  emery  for  polishing  the  iron  things,  brick  for 
rubbing  the  pavements,  and  sticks  for  poking  out  the 
microscopic  straws  that  get  into  the  cracks  of  the  floors. 

She  gave  me  some  curious  information  about  the  fury 
of  cleanliness  for  which  the  village  of  Broek  is  famous 
throughout  Holland.  It  is  not  long  since  an  inscription 
to  the  following  effect  could  be  seen  at  the  entrance  to 
the  village  :  "  Before  and  after  sunrise,  it  is  forbidden  to 
smoke  in  the  village  of  Broek  except  with  a  cover  to  the 
pipe-bowl  {so  as  not  to  scatter  the  ashes)  ;  and,  in  crossing 
the  village  with  a  horse,  it  is  forbidden  to  remain  in  the 
saddle  :  the  horse  must  be  led.'"* 

It  was  also  forbidden  to  go  through  the  village  in  a 
carriage,  or  with  sheep  or  cows,  or  any  other  animal  that 
might  soil  the  street ;  and  although  this  prohibition  no 
longer  exists,  carts  and  animals  still  go  round  the  village, 
from  old    custom.      Before  every  house  there  was  once 


BEOEK.  295 

(and  some  may  still  be  seen)  a  stone  spittoon,  into  which 
smokers  spat  from  the  windows.  The  custom  of  bein^ 
without  shoes  within  doors  is  still  in  vigor,  and  before 
every  door  there  is  a  heap  of  shoes  and  boots  and 
wooden  pattens. 

That  which  has  been  told  about  popular  risings  in 
Broek  in  consequence  of  strangers  having  scattered  some 
cherry-stones  in  the  street,  is  a  fable ;  but  it  is  quite  true 
that  every  citizen  who  sees  from  his  window  a  leaf  or 
straw  fall  upon  the  pavement,  comes  out  and  throws  it 
into  the  canal.  That  they  go  five  hundred  paces  out- 
side the  village  to  dust  their  shoes,  that  boys  are  paid  to 
blow  the  dust  out  of  the  cracks  of  the  pavements  four 
times  an  hour,  and  that,  in  certain  cases,  guests  are  car- 
ried in  the  arms  lest  they  should  soil  the  floors,  are  things 
which  are  told,  said  this  good  woman,  but  which  pro- 
bably have  never  happened.  Before  letting  me  go,  how- 
ever_,  she  related  to  me  an  anecdote  which  almost  made 
these  extravagances  seem  possible.  '*  In  former  times," 
she  said^  "the  mania  for  cleanliness  arrived  at  such  a 
pass,  that  the  women  of  Brock  neglected  their  religious 
duties  for  it.  The  pastor  of  the  village,  after  having  tried 
all  means  of  persuasion  to  cause  the  cessation  of  the 
scandal,  took  another  way.  Pie  preached  a  sermon  in 
which  he  said  that  every  Dutch  woman  who  should  have 
faithfully  fulfilled  her  duties  towards  God  in  this  earthly 
life,  would  find  in  the  other  world  a  house  full  of  furni- 
ture, utensils,  and  trifles  various  and  precious,  in  which 
undisturbed  by  other  occupation,  she  could  sweep,  wash, 
and  polish  for   all  eternity,  without  ever  coming  to  an 


296  HOLLAND. 

end.  The  image  of  this  sublime  recompense^  tlie  thought 
of  this  immense  felicity,  infused  such  ardor  and  piety  into 
the  women  of  Broek,  that  from  that  moment  they  were 
assiduous  at  religious  exercises,  and  never  had  need  of 
further  admonition/' 

And  yet,  neither  in  this  rage  for  cleanliness,  nor  in  its 
oddities   of  architecture,  lies  the  reason  for   the    semi- 
serious  celebrity  of  the  village  of  Broek.     This  celebrity 
arises  from  an  extravagance  of  forms  and  customs,  beside 
which  those  which  now  exist  are  nowhere.     The  Broek  of 
to-day  is    only  the  pale  shade  of  the  Brock  of   former 
times.     To  know  this  it  is  only  necessary  to  visit  a  house 
placed   at    the   entrance    of    the    village,    and   open    to 
strangers,  which  is  a  perfect  model  of  the  ancient  houses, 
and  has  been  preserved  by  the  proprietor  as  an  historical 
monument  of  past   folly.     The  exterior  of  the  house  is 
not  different  from  the  others.     The  wonders  are  in  the 
chambers  and  in  the  garden.     The  rooms,  very  small,  are 
so    many  bazaars,  each  one    of  which   would  require   a 
volume  of  description.     The  Dutch  mania  for  piling  ob- 
ject upon  object  and  seeking  elegance  and  beauty  in  the 
excess  of  the  utmost  disparity  of  ornament,  is  here  seen 
pushed   to  the  superlative  of  the  ridiculous.     There  are 
porcelain  figures  on  the  shelves,  Chinese  cups  and  sugar- 
bowls  on   and  under  all  the  tables,  plates  suspended  on 
the  walls  from  ceiling  to  floor,  clocks,  ostrich  eggs,  boats, 
ships,   vases,  saucers,  goblets,  stuck  in  every  space  and 
hidden  in  every  corner ;  pictures  which  present  different 
figures  according  to  the  point  from  which  they  are  viewed, 
closets  full  of    thousands  of   toys  and    trifles  -,  nameless 


BROEK.  297 

ornaments,  senseless  decorations,  a  confusion  and  disso- 
nance of  color,  bad  taste  so  innocently  displayed  that  it 
is  pitiful  to  see. 

But  the  absurdity  is  still  greater  in  the  garden.  Here 
are  bridges  a  palm  long,  grottoes  and  cascades  of  minia- 
ture proportions,  small  rustic  chapels,  Greek  temples, 
Chinese  kiosks,  Indian  pagodas,  painted  statues;  tiny 
figures  with  gilded  feet  and  hands,  which  bounce  out  of 
flower-baskets ;  automata  of  life  size  that  smoke  and  spin  ; 
doors  which  open  with  a  spring  and  display  a  company  of 
puppets  seated  at  a  table;  little  basins  with  swans  and  geese 
in  zinc ;  paths  paved  with  a  mosaic  of  shells,  with  a  fine 
porcelain  vase  in  the  middle ;  trees  cut  into  a  represen- 
tation of  the  human  figure,  bushes  o£  box  carved  into  the 
shapes  of  bell-towers,  chapels,  ships,  chimeras,  peacocks 
with  spread  tails,  and  children  with  arms  stretched  out ; 
paths,  arbors,  hedges,  flowers,  plants,  all  contorted,  tor- 
mented, twisted,  and  bastardised.  And  such  in  former 
times  were  all  the  houses  and  gardens  of  Broek. 

But  now,  not  only  the  aspect  of  the  village  but  the 
population  is  much  changed.  Broek  was  formerly  called 
a  village  of  millionaires,  because  almost  all  its  inhabitants 
were  very  wealthy  mercnuits,  who  went  there  for  the  love 
of  peace  and  quietness.  Little  by  little  the  annoyance, 
the  ridicule  which  was  excited  by  their  houses  and  them- 
selves, the  importunity  of  travellers,  the  desire  for  more 
agreeable  surroundings,  drove  away  almost  all  the  rich 
families  from  Broek,  and  those  who  remained  allowed  the 
old  order  of  things  to  vanish.  Now  Broek  has  about  a 
thousand  inhabitants,  the  greater  part   of   whom  make 


298  HOLLAND. 

cheeses,  and  the  rest  are  shopkeepers,  manufacturers  and 
artificers,  living  on  their  incomes. 

In  spite  of  its  decadence,  Brock  is  still  visited  by 
almost  all  strangers  who  go  to  Holland.  In  one  of  the 
rooms  of  the  house  I  have  described  there  is  a  large 
book  containing  several  thousand  visiting  cards  and 
autograplis  of  people  of  every  country.  The  greater  part 
are  Americans  and  English ;  Italians  are  fewest,  and  of 
these,  almost  all  nobles  from  the  southern  provinces. 
Amongst  the  many  illustrious  names,  I  saw  those  of 
Victor  Hugo,  Walter  Scott,  Gambetta,  and  Emile  Augier 
the  dramatic  writer.  Among  other  things  there  is  a 
paper  signed  by  the  Emperor  and  Empress  of  Russia,  and 
given  to  a  citizen  of  Brock  in  gratitude  for  hospitality 
shown  by  him  to  the  Grand  Duke  Nicolas  Alexandrovitch 
in  1864. 

Apropos  of  illustrious  visitors,  the  Emperor  Alexander 
of  Russia  and  Napoleon  the  Great  were  both  at  Brock. 
The  local  tradition  says  that  each  of  them  having  wished 
to  see  the  interior  of  a  house,  they  were  obliged  before 
entering  to  draw  on  a  pair  of  coarse  woollen  stockings 
presented  to  them  by  the  maid-servant,  so  that  they  should 
not  soil  the  floors  with  their  boots. 

The  Emperor  Joseph  II.  also  made  a  visit  to  Brock ; 
but,  as  it  is  related,  not  having  brought  any  letters  of 
introduction,  he  was  not  permitted  to  enter  any  house. 
An  aide-de-camp  having  insisted  that  His  Majesty  should 
be  admitted,  the  owner  answered,  '^  I  do  not  know  your 
Emperor,  and  if  he  were  tlie  Burgomaster  of  Amsterdam 
in  person,  I  would  not  receive  him  if  I  did  not  know  him. 


a 


BROEK.  299 

When  I  had  visited  the  house  and  garden  above  de- 
scribed, I  went  to  a  small  cafe,  where  a  girl  without  shoes, 
understanding  my  signs,  brought  me  half  of  an  excellent 
Edam  cheese,  with  some  eggs  and  butter  and  bread,  each 
thing  in  a  covered  dish,  protected  by  a  wire  netting,  and 
hidden  under  the  whitest  of  fringed  napkins ;  and  then 
I  went  with  a  boy,  who  conversed  with  me  by  gestures, 
to  see  a  dairy-farm.  Many  people  among  us  who  wear 
tall  hats  and  gold  watches,  have  not  so  pretty  and  clean 
an  apartment  as  that  in  which  the  cows  of  Brock  reside 
Before  entering,  you  are  requested  to  wipe  your  feet  on 
a  mat  laid  there  for  that  purpose.  The  pavement  of  the 
stalls  is  of  various  colored  bricks,  so  clean  that  the  hand 
could  be  passed  over  it;  the  walls  are  co^^ered  with  pine- 
wood  ;  the  windows  decorated  with  muslin  curtains  and 
pots  of  flowers;  the  mangers  are  painted;  the  animals 
themselves  are  scraped,  combed,  washed,  and,  that  they 
may  not  soil  their  coats,  their  tails  are  held  up  by  a  cord 
which  is  attached  to  a  nail  in  the  ceiling;  a  clear  stream 
of  water  running  through  between  the  stalls,  carries  off 
all  impurities;  except  under  the  animals'  feet  there  is 
not  a  straw  or  a  stain  to  be  seen  ;  and  the  air  is  so  pure 
that  if  you  close  your  eyes  you  may  imagine  yourself  in 
a  drawing-room.  The  rooms  where  the  peasants  live,  the 
cheese-rooms,  the  courts  and  corners,  are  all  clean  and 
sweet.  Before  returning  to  Amsterdam  I  took  one  more 
turn  about  the  village,  taking  care  to  hide  my  cigar 
when  I  saw  a  woman  with  a  gold  circlet  on  her  head 
looking  at  me  from  a  window.  I  crossed  two  or  three 
white  bridges,  touched    a  few  boats  with   ray  foot,  lin- 


300  HOLLAND. 

gered  a  moment  before  the  gayest  of  the  painted  houses ; 
and  then,  seeing  no  living  soul  in  the  street  or  in  the 
gardens,  I  resumed  my  solitary'  way  on  the  horse  of  St. 
Francis,*  with  that  feeling  of  weary  sadness  which  accom- 
panies in  general  curiosity  satisfied. 

•  The  horse  of  St.  Francis ;  Anglice,  Shank's  mar©. 


Z  A  AN  DAM. 


Most  strangers^  after  having  visited  Broek  and  the  town  of 
Zandaam^  go  to  Friesland  and  return  to  the  Hague  under 
the  impression  that  they  have  seen  Holland.  I,  on  the 
contrary,  wished  to  push  on  to  the  extremity  of  North 
Holland,  believing  that  in  that  out-of-the-way  province, 
where  no  foreigners  reside  and  few  travellers  go,  I  should 
find  manners,  customs,  and  ancient  usages  more  distinctly 
marked  than  in  the  others.  The  dangers  of  not  being 
able  to  make  myself  understood,  of  putting  up  at  bad 
inns,  of  being  alone,  perhaps  ill  and  sad^  in  some  small 
place  scarce  mentioned  in  the  guide-books,  and  which  the 
most  patient  travellers  pass  through  without  stopping — 
nothing  turned  me  from  my  purpose.  One  fine  morning 
in  August,  the  travelling  devil,  the  most  potent  of  all 
devils  who  invade  the  human  soul,  transported  me  and  my 
valise  into  a  steamboat  that  was  lea^^ngfor  Zaandam,  em- 
barked me  on  the  same   day  for  Alkmaar,  the  metropolis 


302  HOLLAND. 

of  cheeses,  and  on  the  same  evening  gave  me  a  second- 
class  ticket  for  Helder,  the  Gibraltar  of  the  North. 

Zaandam,  seen  from  the  gulf  of  the  Y,  presents  the 
aspect  of  a  fortress  crowned  with  innumerable  towers, 
from  the  summits  of  which  the  citizens  are  calling  for 
succour  with  frantic  gestures  to  a  distant  army.  There 
are  hundreds  of  tall  windmills,  which  rise  among  the 
houses,  upon  the  dykes,  along  the  shore,  over  the  whole 
country  about  the  town,  some  of  which  are  busy  in  drain- 
ing the  lands,  some  in  making  colza  oil,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  important  commercial  products  of  Zaandam ; 
others  are  crushing  into  powder  a  species  of  volcanic  tufa 
rock  brought  from  the  Ehine,  and  which  is  used  in  the 
composition  of  a  particular  cement  for  hydraulic  works  ; 
others  saw  wood,  grind  colors,  clean  barley,  make  paper, 
mustard,  rope,  starch,  and  paste.  The  town  becomes 
visible  only  a  few  minutes  before  entering  the  port. 

It  looked  like  a  scene  in  a  pastoral  ballet.  The  city  is 
along  the  two  banks  of  a  river  called  the  Zaan,  which 
empties  itself  into  the  Y,  and  around  it  is  a  small  basin 
formed  by  the  Y  itself,  which  serves  it  as  a  port.  The 
two  portions  of  the  city  are  connected  by  a  drawbridge. 
There  are  but  few  streets  or  houses  near  the  port,  the 
principal  part  of  Zaandam  extending  along  the  banks  of 
the  Zaan. 

Zaandam  is  a  larger  Broek,  handsomer  and  less  puerile 
than  little  Broek. 

The  houses  are  built  of  wood,  with  one  storey,  and 
pointed  fa9ades,  and  are  almost  all  painted  green.  There 
are  whole  streets  where  no  other  color  is  seen^  looking  as 


ZAANBAM.  .  303 

if  tliey  were  make  of  box  and  myrtle.  The  whole  place 
has  an  air  of  cheerfulness  and  freshness  that  is  very- 
attractive  ;  and  although  it  is  a  rich  and  populous  city,  it 
seems  a  village.  It  has  all  the  peculiar  features  of  a 
Dutch  town,  but  with  them  there  is  something  new  and 
exotic  that  distinguishes  it  from  the  others. 

It  being  a  holiday,  the  streets  were  full  of  people  going 
to,  or  coming  from,  church.  The  first  thing  that  struck  me 
was  the  head-dress  of  the  women.  Under  a  hat  covered  with 
flowers,  they  wear  a  sort  of  lace  cap  which  falls  down  upon 
the  shoulders,  aud  from  beneath  which  protrude  upon  the 
forehead  two  bunches  of  hair,  cur-ed  like  cluster*  of 
grapes.  The  gold  or  silver  band  which  encircles  the  head 
and  gleams  through  the  lace  of  the  cap,  terminates  on 
each  temple  by  a  square  bit  of  the  same  metal,  turned 
towards  the  spectator,  and  with  a  rosette  in  the  middle. 
Another  little  plate,  gilded  and  carved,  a  sort  of  metallic 
ribbon,  attached  in  some  way  to  the  band  upon  the  head, 
crosses  the  forehead  obliquely  and  comes  down  almost 
to  the  opposite  temple,  or  to  the  eye-brow,  looking  rather 
like  a  piece  of  the  band,  broken  olf  and  hanging.  Two 
large  pins  stuck  vertically  into  the  two  extremities  of  the 
band  rise  like  two  horns  above  the  two  bunches  of  curls. 
Long  ear-rings  hang  from  the  ears,  the  neck  is  ornamented 
with  several  rows  of  necklaces,  and  on  the  breast  there 
are  enough  brooches,  clasps,  and  chains  to  furnish  out  a 
jeweller^s  window.  All  the  women,  with  slight  ditferences, 
are  decorated  in  this  way ;  and  as  they  are  all  fair  and 
rosy,  and  dressed  with  the  same  bad  taste,  it  is  difficult 
for  a  stranger  to  distinguish  a  lady  from  a  peasant.     It 


304  HOLLAND. 

cannot  be  said,  exactly,  that  the  head-dress  and  the  super- 
abundance of  ornament  are  elegant  or  beautiful ;  but  yet 
the  fair  complexions  under  all  that  gold  and  lace  and 
flowers,  that  mixture  of  the  princely  and  the  rustic,  the 
opulent  and  the  coarse,  the  pompous  and  the  ingenuous, 
has  a  grace  of  its  own  which  agrees,  as  one  may  say,  with 
the  air  of  the  place,  and  ends  by  pleasing  you.  Even  the 
children  have  their  lace  and  their  diadem ;  the  men  being 
generally  dressed  in  black.  And  all,  old  and  young,  have 
an  air  of  contentment,  a  primitive,  virginal,  and  youth- 
ful look,  that  makes  them  seem  unlike  Europeans  of 
our  time,  and  imparts  a  feeling  of  another  continent 
and  another  civilization,  a  country  where  riches  grow 
without  labor,  life  flows  on  passionless,  society  moves 
without  shock  or  attrition,  and  where  no  one  desires  any 
other  good  than  peace.  And  if,  while  these  thoughts  pass 
through  the  mind,  the  clock  of  a  neighbouring  steeple 
chimes  out  in  silvery  notes  some  old  national  air,  the  illu- 
sion is  complete,  and  you  would  like  to  bring  your  family 
and  friends  to  Zaandam,  and  end  your  tranquil  days  in 
one  of  those  green  houses. 

But  if  all  this  beatitude  is  but  an  illusion,  it  is  still  a 
fact  that  Zaandam  is  one  of  the  wealthiest  of  the  Dutch 
cities,  that  in  many  of  those  little  green  houses  live  ship- 
builders who  are  millionaires,  and  that  there  is  no  family 
without  bread,  and  no  children  without  instruction. 

Zaandam  possesses,  besides,  what  Napoleon  called  *"'  the 
finest  monument  in  Holland'' — that  is,  the  cabin  of  Peter 
the  Great,  in  honor  of  whom  the  city  was  at  one  time 
called  Czardam  or  Sardam.    A  whole  squadron  of  cicerone 


ZAANDAM,  305 

whisper  the  name  of  this  cabin  into  the  ears  of  all 
strangers  arriving  in  Zaandam^  and  it  may  be  said  to  be 
the  main  object  of  all  those  who  visit  the  city. 

When  and  Tvhy  the  great  Emperor  lived  in  this  cabin 
are  known  to  all.  After  having  conquered  the  Tartars 
and  the  Turks,  and  made  his  triumphal  entrance  into 
Moscow,  the  young  Czar  wished  to  make  a  journey 
through  the  principal  European  states  to  study  their  arts 
and  industries.  Accompanied  by  three  ambassadors,  four 
secretaries,  twelve  gentlemen,  fifty  guards,  and  one  dwarf, 
he  left  his  own  states  in  April  of  1697,  crossed  Livonia, 
passed  through  Prussian  Brandenburg,  by  Pomerania, 
Berlin,  and  Westphalia,  and  arrived  at  Amsterdam  fifteen 
days  before  his  suite.  In  that  city,  unknown  to  all,  he 
passed  some  time  in  the  arsenals  of  the  Admiralty ;  and 
then,  in  order  to  learn  with  his  own  eyes  and  hands  the 
art  of  shipbuilding,  in  which  Holland  was  at  that  time 
superior,  he  dressed  himself  as  a  sailor,  and  went  to 
Zaandam,  where  the  most  famous  arsenals  were  situated. 
Here,  under  the  name  of  Peter  MichaelhofF,  he  entered 
the  ship-yard  of  a  certain  Mynheer  Calf,  was  inscribed 
among  the  other  workmen,  worked  in  wood,  iron,  and 
cordnqe,  and  during  the  whole  time  of  his  stay,  dressed 
and  ate  and  slept  exactly  as  his  companions  in  labor  did, 
living  in  the  wooden  cabin  which  is  still  shown.  How 
long  he  remained  in  the  city  is  not  exactly  known.  Some 
say  that  he  was  there  several  months,  but  others,  with 
more  probability,  believe  that,  annoyed  by  the  curiosity 
of  the  inhabitants,  he  stayed  only  one  week.  Certain  it 
is  that,  returning  to  Amsterdam  after  a  short  time,  he 


306  HOLLAND. 

finished  with  his  own  hands,  in  the  arsenal  of  the  East 
India  Company,  a  vessel  of  sixty  guns;  that  he  studied 
mathematics,  physics,  geography,  anatomy,  and  painting, 
and,  that  he  left  Amsterdam  in  January  1698  to  go  to 
London. 

The  famous  cabin  is  to  he  found  at  one  end  of  Zaandam 
in  sight  of  the  open  country ;  and  is  encased,  as  it  were, 
in  a  little  edifice  of  mason  work,  wliich  the  Queen  of 
Holland,  Anna  Paulovna,  who  was  Russian  by  birth, 
caused  to  be  built  for  its  preservation.  It  is  a  simple 
fisherman's  hut,  of  wood,  with  two  little  rooms,  and  in 
such  a  tumbledown  condition  that,  if  it  were  not  upheld 
in  the  manner  described,  the  first  high  wind  would  level 
it  to  the  ground.  In  one  room  there  are  three  rough 
stools,  a  large  table,  a  bed,  and  a  large  chimney  of  the 
antique  Fleraish  pattern.  In  the  second,  there  are  two 
portraits ;  one  of  Peter  the  Great  in  his  workman's  dress, 
and  the  other  of  the  Empress  Catherine.  The  Dutch 
and  Russian  flags  are  spread  out  on  the  ceiling.  The  fur- 
niture, walls,  doors,  and  beams  are  all  covered  with  names 
and  inscriptions  in  all  the  languages  of  the  world.  There 
is  a  slab  of  marble  upon  which  is  written  :  "  Petro  magno 
Alexander,"  placed  there  by  order  of  the  Emperor  Alex- 
ander in  commemoration  of  his  visit  in  1814.  Another 
stone  records  the  visit  made  by  the  present  Czar,  when 
hereditary  prince,  in  1839,  and  under  it  there  is  a  verse 
by  a  Russian  poet  to  this  effect:  ''^Over  this  humble 
abode,  the  holy  angels  watch.  Czarevitch  !  bow  down  ! 
Here  is  the  cradle  of  thy  Empire ;  here  was  born  the 
greatness  of  Russia."     Other  stones  record  the  visits  of 


o 
o 

I 


O 


c/j 

O 
a 


H 

PL, 

b 
O 

C 

Bi 
tii 

H 
2 


< 

Q 
2 

<: 

< 

N 


^r.4»' 


ZAANDAM.  80? 

kings  and  princes,,  nnd  tliere  are  many  verses  and  inscrip- 
tions, yjenerally  in  Russian^  expressing  the  joy  and  enthu- 
siasm of  those  who  have  reached  the  goal  of  their  sacred 
pilgrimage.  One  of  the  inscriptions  sets  forth  that  from 
this  cabin  the  carpenter  Peter  Michaeloff  directed  the 
movements  of  the  Muscovite  army^  when  fighting  against 
the  Turks  in  the  Ukraine. 

As  I  came  out,  I  thought  that  if  the  most  glorious  day 
in  the  life  of  Peter  the  Great  was  that  in  which  he  lav 
down  to  rest  in  that  hut,  after  having  for  the  first  time 
labored  with  his  own  hands,  the  happiest  must  ha  e 
been  that  one  in  which  he  came  back^  after  eighteen  years 
had  passed,  in  the  height  of  his  power  and  glory,  and 
showed  Catherine  the  place  where,  while  working  as  a 
day-laborer,  he  had  learned  to  be  an  emperor.  The  in- 
habitants of  Zaandam  remember  that  day  with  pride, 
and  speak  of  it  as  of  an  event  which  they  had  witnessed. 
The  Czarina  had  stopped  at  Wesel  for  her  confinement; 
the  Czar  arrived  alone  at  Zaandam.  The  joy  and  pride 
may  be  imagined  with  which  he  was  received  by  those 
merchants,  sailors,  and  carpenters  who  had  known  him 
eighteen  years  before.  For  the  world  at  large,  he  was  the 
conqueror  of  Pultowa,  the  founder  of  St.  Petersburg,  the 
civilizer  of  Russia,  but  for  them  he  was  Peferbas,  Master 
Peter,  as  he  was  familiarly. called  when  he  worked  among 
them ;  he  was  a  son  of  Zaandam,  who  had  become  an 
emperor ;  he  was  an  old  friend  come  back  to  them.  Ten 
days  after  arrived  the  Czarina  and  also  visited  the  cabin. 
Emperor  and  Empress  without  pomp  or  attendance  went 
to  dine  at  the  house  of  Mynheer  Calf,  the  shipbuilder  who 


308  HOLLAND. 

had  received  the  voims:  crowned  workman  at  his  arsenal  : 
the  people  accompanied  him^  shouting:  ^''Long  live 
Master  Peter  !  ^^  and  Master  Peter,  the  exterminator  of 
boyards,  the  condemner  of  his  own  son,  the  formidable 
despot,  wept. 

To  go  to  Alkmaar  I  took  a  steamboat,  which  went  up 
the  Zaan  as  far  as  the  Northern  canal,  and  thus  saw  East 
and  West  Zaandam,  or  those  parts  of  the  city  which 
stretch  for  almost  three  miles  along  the  two  banks  of  the 
river. 

It  is  a  spectacle  which  vindicates  Broek  twenty  times 
over. 

Everyone  remembers  those  landscapes  painted  when 
a  boy,  after  Papa,  or  some  kind  uncle,  had  made  a  pre- 
sent of  a  box  of  colors.  The  general  wish  is  to  depict  a 
delicious  spot,  such  as  is  dreamt  of  at  school  when  dozmg 
over  the  last  Latin  lessons  just  before  vacation.  In  order 
to  render  the  place  truly  delightful,  the  boy  crowds  into 
a  small  space  a  villa,  a  garden,  a  lake,  a  wood,  a  field,  a 
river,  a  bridge,  a  grotto,  a  cascade,  all  close  together  and 
well  wedged  in ;  and  that  nothing  may  escape  the  eye, 
every  object  is  painted  with  the  most  vivid  colors  that  the 
box  can  furnish ;  and  wdien  it  is  finished,  struck  with  the 
idea  that  he  has  not  really  profited  by  every  inch  of  space, 
he  puts  in  a  little  house  here,  and  a  tree  there,  and  a 
cottage  in  the  corner,  until,  it  being  clearly  impossible  to 
insert  another  blade  of  griss,  or  stone,  or  flower,  he  lays 
down  his  brush  delighted  with  his  own  work,  and  runs 
to  show  it  to  the  maid-servant,  who  exclaims  in  admi- 
ration  over  that  true  terrestrial  paradise.     Well,   Zaan- 


Z A  AND  A  3f.  309 

dam  seen  from  the  river,  is  precisely  like  one  of  these 
landscapes. 

The  houses  are  all  green,  with  bright  red  roofs,  upon 
which  are  little  green  kiosks,  surmounted  by  gay  flags, 
or  wooden  balls  of  different  colors  stuck  upon  iron  rods ; 
there  are  little  towers  crowned  with  railiugs  and  striped 
awnings,  edifices  in  the  form  of  little  temples;  sheds  and 
barracks  of  unknov/n  structure,  capriciously  crowded  one 
upon  the  other,  as  if  for  lack  of  space ;  an  architecture  of 
expediency,  full  of  show  and  vanity.  In  the  midst  of 
these  buildings  are  streets,  through  which  no  one  ever 
passes,  squares  about  as  big  as  ordinary  rooms,  court- 
yards but  little  larger  than  a  table,  canals  scarce  wide 
enough  for  a  duck  to  swim ;  and  m  front,  between  the 
houses  and  the  river-bank,  childish  little  gardens,  full  of 
summer-houses,  boxes  for  the  chickens,  arbors,  toy  wind- 
radls  and  weeping  willows ;  and  in  front  of  these  gardens, 
on  the  river-banks,  little  ports  full  of  little  green  boats, 
tied  to  still  greener  posts.  In  the  midst  of  this  medley 
of  gardens  and  barracks,  tall  windmills  rise  on  every  side, 
green  edged  with  white,  or  white  edged  with  green,  with 
their  wmgs  painted  like  flagstaffs,  and  the  centre  gilded 
and  ornamented  with  many-colored  weathercocks  ;  steeples 
green  and  varnished  from  top  to  bottom,  chapels  that  look 
like  booths  at  a  fair,  painted  in  squares  like  a  chess-board 
and  bordered  with  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow.  But 
what  is  still  more  curious,  the  buildings  small  enough  at 
the  beginning,  go  on  growing  smaller  as  you  proceed 
down  the  river,  as  if  the  population  were  distributed  in 
the  order  of  stature,  so  that  towards  the  end  there  are 


310  HOLLAND. 

none  but  sentry-boxes — places  to  hide  in — looking  as  if 
they  protruded  from  a  buried  town ;  a  tiny  architecture 
that  is  there,  under  your  feet,  but  seems  to  be  far  away  ; 
a  human  beehive,  where  the  children  look  colossal^  and 
the  cats  jump  from  the  streets  to  the  roofs. 


THE       ''^^\ 

ALKMAAR. 


The  vessel,  passing  beyond  Zaandara,  went  on  for  a  long 
time  between  two  rows  of  windmills,  touched  at  various 
villages,,  turned  into  the  Marker- Vaart  canal,  crossed  the 
lake  of  Alkmaar,  and  finally  entered  the  Northern  canal. 
I  cannot  describe  the  feeling  of  solitude^  and  of  distance, 
that  came  over  me  in  the  midst  of  that  crowd  of  peasant 
women,  bediademed  like  queens,  and  motionless  as  images, 
on  the  steamboat  as  it  glided  along  with  the  placidity 
of  a  gondola  across  a  boundless  and  uniform  expanse,  under 
a  melancholy  sky.  I  found  myself  at  certain  moments 
wondering  how  I  came  there,  and  where  I  was  going  to, 
and  when  I  should  come  back;  I  felt  home-sick  for 
Amsterdam  and  the  Hague,  as  if  the  country  through 
which  I  was  passing  were  as  far  from  South  Holland  as 
the  latter  was  from  Italy ;  I  made  a  mental  resolution 
never  to  travel  again  alone,  and  felt  as  if  I  should  never 
see  home  again. 

At  that  point  I  found  myself  in    the    very   heart   of 


312  HOLLAND. 

North  Holland,  at  that  little  peninsula  bathed  by  the 
North  Sea_,  and  the  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee,  which  is  almost 
all  lower  than  the  waters  that  surround  it,  and  is  defended 
on  one  side  by  the  downs,  and  on  the  other  by  immense 
dykes,  and  intersected  by  an  infinitude  of  canals,  lakes, 
and  ponds,  which  give  it  the  aspect  of  a  half-submerged 
territory  destined  some  day  to  vanish  under  the  waters. 
Over  the  entire  space  that  caa  be  embraced  by  the  eye 
there  are  to  be  seen  onl}^  a  few  groups  of  trees,  some 
sails  of  vessels,  and  windmills. 

That  part  of  the  Northern  canal  which  the  steamboat 
was  going  through  runs  along  the  Beemster,  the  largest 
extent  of  land  that  was  drained  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, one  of  the  forty-three  lakes  that  anciently  covered 
the  province  of  Alkmaar,  and  which  were  transformed 
into  beautiful  meadows.  This  Beemster,  which  embraces 
an  area  of  seven  thousand  hectares,  and  is  administered, 
like  all  the  other  polders,  by  a  committee  elected  by 
the  proprietors — the  expenses  being  covered  by  a  tax 
divided  at  so  much  per  hectare — is  laid  out  in  a  large 
number  of  squares,  surrounded  by  paved  roads  and  canals, 
so  that  the  country  looks  like  a  gigantic  chess-board. 
The  surface  being  alaiost  three  metres  and  a  half  lower 
than  that  of  Amsterdam,  the  rain-water  has  to  be  con- 
stantlv  drawn  off  bv  means  of  windmills,  which  drain  it 
into  the  canals,  and  they  carry  it  to  the  sea.  There  are 
in  the  vfhole  polder  almost  three  hundred  farms,  possess- 
ing about  six  thousand  beef  cattle  and  more  than  four 
hundred  horses.  The  only  trees  to  be  seen  are  poplars, 
elms,  and  willows,  grouped  about  the  houses  as  a  defence 


ALKMAAE.  313 

against  the  wind.  It  is  all  meadow-land,  and  all  the  other 
polders  are  like  the  Beemster.  The  only  salient  objects 
upon  those  verdant  plains  are  the  posts  which  support 
the  storks'  nests_,  and  here  and  there  some  enormous  boiie 
of  a  whale,  the  antique  trophy  of  Dutch  fishermen, 
planted  upright  in  the  earth,  and  serving  for  the  cows  to 
scratch  themselves  against.  All  transportation  of  produce 
from  farm  to  farm  is  done  bv  boat :  the  houses  are  entered 
by  a  drawbridge  which  is  raised  at  night,  like  the  bridge 
of  a  fortress;  the  herds  pasture  without  any  herdsmen; 
ducks  and  swans  swim  freely  in  the  long  canals ;  all 
things  breathe  security,  pisnty,  and  peace.  These  are,  in 
fact,  the  provinces  where  flourish,  in  all  its  beauty,  that 
famous  race  of  cattle  to  which  Holland,  in  great  part, 
owes  her  riches ;  those  large,  pacific  cows,  which  give  as 
much  as  thirty  quarts  of  milk  a  day,  descendants  of 
those  glorious  animals  which,  in  the  middle  ages,  were 
sent  to  ennoble  the  race  in  France,  Belgium,  Germany, 
Sweden,  and  Russia;  one  head  of  which,  if  tradition 
may  be  beUeved,  crossed  the  continent  as  far  as  Odessa, 
going  back,  step  by  step^  over  the  road  which  had  been 
followed  by  the  great  Germanic  invasions.  Witli  the  milk 
of  these  animals  is  made  that  exquisite  cheese  called 
Edam,  after  the  town  of  that  name  in  North  Holland. 
On  market  days,  all  the  towns  m  this  province  are  over- 
flowing with  these  handsome  reddish  forms  piled  up  like 
cannon-balls  in  the  streets  and  piazzas,  and  pointed  out  to 
the  stranger  with  a  sentiment  of  national  pride.  Alkmaar 
sells  more  than  four  millions  of  kilogrammes  per  year, 
Horn  three  millions,  Purmerende   two,   ^fedenblick   and 


314  HOLLAND, 

Enkliuysen  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  thousand^  the 
whole  of  North  Holland  more  than  fifteen  millions  of 
francs  worth. 

As  the  steamboat  drew  near  to  the  city,  I  went  on  as 
nsual,  exciting  my  curiosity  by  recalling  to  my  memory 
everything  that  I  knew  about  Alkmaar ;  far  from  foreseeing_, 
poor  soul,  the  disagreeable  circumstances  in  which  I  was 
to  find  myself  within  its  walls.  I  imagined  it  destroyed 
by  John  of  Avesnes,  Count  of  Holland,  in  punishment 
for  rebellion.  I  followed  the  courageous  carpenter,  who 
crossed  the  camp  of  the  Spaniards,  carrying  to  the  go- 
vernor of  the  province  the  order  of  the  Prince  of  Orange 
to  cut  the  dykes,  and  who  afterwards  lost  the  governor-'s 
answer;  which,  being  found  and  read  by  Frederic,  the 
Duke  of  Alv'a's  son,  caused  him  to  raise  the  siege  in  the 
fear  of  being  drowned.  I  saw  a  troop  of  schoolboys 
amusing  themselves  by  looking  at  the  snowy  landscape 
through  bits  of  ice  applied  to  the  tubes  of  Jtheir  ink-stands, 
and  the  good  Mezio  coming  amongst  them  to  find  in 
their  play  the  first  idea  of  the  spy-glass.  I  met  at  the 
corner  of  a  street  the  painter  Schornel,  his  head  all 
scarred  with  the  sticks  and  fisticuff's  which  he  had  got  in 
the  taverns  at  Utrecht,  where  he  had  been  drinking 
with  that  good  fellow  John  of  Manburg,  his  master  in 
painting  and  debauchery.  And,  last  of  all,  I  imagined 
the  lovely  women  of  Alkmaar,  who,  with  their  modest  and 
innocent  air,  had  the  power  to  indemnify  Napoleon  for 
the  ennui  of  Amsterdam  and  the  boredom  of  Brock. 
Meantime,  the  steamboat  arrived  at  Alkmaar ;  where  a 
porter  who  knew  three  French  words,    Monsieur,  hotel, 


ALKMAAE.  315 

and  pourboir,  took  my  valise   and  conveyed  me  to  my 
inn. 

To  those  who  have  seen  other  cities  of  Holland^  Alk- 
maar  offers  nothing  remarkable.  It  is  a  town  of  regular 
form,  with  broad  canals  and  streets,  and  the  usual  red 
houses  with  the  usual  pointed  fa9ades.  Some  of  the  larger 
squares  are  entirely  paved  with  small  red  and  yellow 
bricks,  disposed  in  symmetrical  designs,  and  looking  at  a 
distance  like  a  carpet;  and  the  streets  have  two  side- 
walks, one  of  bricks  for  passengers,  and  one  above  it  of 
stone,  projecting  from  the  walls  of  the  houses,  upon  which 
no  one  must  jjlace  his  foot  if  he  wishes  to  avoid  the 
angry  looks  of  the  inhabitants  who  may  observe  him 
from  the  windows.  Many  of  the  houses  are  whitewashed, 
no  one  can  tell  why,  halfway  up ;  some  are  painted  black 
as  if  in  monrning,  and  some  are  varnislicd  like  coaches 
from,  top  to  bottom.  The  windows  being  very  low,  one 
can  see,  through  the  beautiful  tulips  and  hyacinths  that 
adorn  them,  the  parlors  glittering  with  mirrors  and 
porcelain,  and  the  family  gathered  about  a  small  table 
covered  with  beer-glasses,  liquor-stands,  cakes,  and  cigar- 
boxes.  For  long  distances  in  the  streets  you  meet  no 
one ;  and,  what  is  unusual  in  a  town  of  more  than  ten 
thousand  inhabitants,  the  few  people,  men,  women,  and 
children  who  pass,  or  stand  in  the  door-ways,  all  salute 
the  stranger  courteously.  A  company  of  collegians, 
accompanied  by  a  tutor,  passed  me  ;  at  a  sign  from  the 
latter,  they  all  raised  their  caps ;  and  my  dress  was  cer- 
tainly not  that  of  a  person  of  distinction.  The  city  hag 
no  noticeable  monuments,  beyond  the  city  hall,  an  edifice 


316  HOLLAND. 

of  the  seventeentli  century^  partly  Gothic  and  partly  of  no 
style  at  all^  resembling  in  miniature  the  one  at  Brussels ; 
and  the  large  church  of  St.  Lawrence,  of  the  same 
date,  in  which  is  the  tomb  of  Count  Fiorentius  V  of 
Holland,  and,  hanging  over  the  choir,  like  a  lamp,  a 
model  of  the  flag-ship  of  de  Ruyter.  To  the  east  of  the 
city  lies  a  thick  grove  of  trees  which  serves  as  a  public 
garden,  and  which  is  used  occasionally  for  certain  grand 
festivals  called  harddraverij,  or  trotting  matches,  for 
the  thoroughly  Dutch  prize  of  a  silver  coffee-pot.  But 
notwitlistanding  its  fine  grove^  its  church,  its  city  hall, 
and  its  eleven  thousand  inhabitants,  Alkmaar  looks  like 
a  big  village,  and  so  profound  a  silence  reigos  in  her 
streets  that  the  music  of  the  steeples,  wilder  even  than  in 
the  other  cities,  is  heard  all  over  as  distinctly  as  in  the 
quiet  of  the  night. 

Passing  through  some  solitary  streets  towards  the  centre 
of  the  city,  I  began  to  see  more  people,  prnicipally 
women,  who,  as  it  was  a  holiday,  were  dressed  m  all 
their  bravery,  particularly  the  peasants.  Truly,  I  cannot 
imagine  what  ailed  Napoleon^s  eyes  when  he  arrived  at 
Alkmaar.  There  are  certainly  some  pretty  nun-like  faces 
which  express  the  utmost  simplicity  and  innocence,  and 
in  especial  some  cheeks  of  the  softest  rose  that  was  ever 
diffused  by  modesty  over  a  virgin  visage ;  but  the  effect 
of  these  simple  graces  is  quite  destroyed  by  the  abomin- 
able head-dress  and  the  still  more  abominable  fashion  Oi 

he  garments.     Besides  the  tufts  of  curled  hair,  the  ear- 
rings like  a  horse's  blinders,   the  gohl  band   across  the 

forehead,  and  the  white  cap  concealing  the  ears  and  the 


ALKMAAU.  317 

nape  of  tlie  ijeck^  they  wear  upon  tlicir  heads  a  great 
straw  hat  of  an  almost  cylindrical  form,  with  a  broad 
brim  lined  with  green  or  yellow  silk,  turned  up  in  front, 
and  having  a  large  gap  between  the  forehead  and  the 
brim,  reminding  one  of  the  open  mouths  of  tliose  mon- 
sters which  Chinese  soldiers  used  to  wear  to  strike  terror 
into  their  enemies.  Their  hips  are  absurdly  high,  either 
made  so  by  the  fashion  of  the  petticoat  or  by  nature, 
and  the  bust,  which  is  very  large  at  the  girdle,  grows 
smaller  as  it  rises,  contrary  to  our  women,  who  make 
their  chests  broad  and  their  Avaists  small.  And  as  if  this 
were  not  sufficient,  they  compress  (as  I  suppose,  because 
I  cannot  believe  that  nature  has  treated  them  so  badly) 
the  bosom  in  such  a  way  that  not  the  slightest  curve  is 
visible,  as  if  that,  which  in  other  women  is  the  perfection 
of  beauty,  in  them  were  a  ridiculous  defect  or  some- 
thing to  be  ashamed  of.  Even  the  prettiest  of  them 
scarce  look  like  women  in  such  a  costume,  and  the  ap- 
pearance of  those  less  favoured  by  nature,  who  are  the 
most  numerous  in  Alkmaar  as  elsewhere,  can  be  imagined. 

Thus  passing  the  fair  sex  in  review,  I  reached  a  large 
square  full  of  bootlis  and  people,  and  became  aware  that 
I  had  arrived  iii  Alkmaar  on  a  kermesse  day. 

This  is  one  of  the  stangest  and  most  characteristic 
points  of  Dutch  life. 

The  kermesse  is  the  carnival  of  Holland  ;  with  this 
difference  from  the  carnival  of  our  own  ecuntry,  that  it 
lasts  only  eight  days,  and  that  each  town  and  village 
celebrates  it  at  a  different  time.  It  is  difficult  to  sav  in 
what  this  festival  consists.    At  the  time  of  kermesse  there 


318  HOLLAND. 

rises  within  a  Dutcli  city  anotlier  city_,  composed  of  cafesj 
theatres,  shops,  tents,  and  kiosks,  which  vanish  at  the 
end  of  the  festival,  break  up  like  an  encampment,  and 
are  piled  in  boats  and  carried  off  to  some  other  place. 
The  inhabitants  of  this  vagabond  city  are  traders,  mu- 
sicians, actors,  jugglers,  giants,  colossal  women,  mon- 
strous children,  deformed  animals,  wax  figures,  wooden 
horses,  automata,  monkeys,  trained  dogs,  and  w^ild  beasts. 
In  the  midst  of  the  innumerable  sheds  under  which  this 
strange  population  shelters  itself,  there  are  hundreds  of 
little  painted  and  gilded  houses,  each  composed  of  one 
large  and  four  small  rooms,  in  which  some  young  girls 
in  the  Friesian  costume,  with  the  gold  helmet  and  lace 
cap,  serve  all  comers  with  that  peculiar  sweet  cake  called 
bi'oedertijes  fWhichh  the  emblematic  delicacy  of  this  festival, 
as  the  panet one  at  Christmas  and  the  focaccia  at  Twelfth- 
day  are  with  us.  Beside  the  booths  of  the  mountebanks, 
and  the  cafes,  there  are  bazaars,  circuses,  theatres  for 
musical  performances,  and  every  sort  of  entertainment 
to  suit  the  taste  of  the  people.  Such  is  the  place  for  the 
occasion  provided  for  the  kermesse;  but  the  festival  itself, 
properly  speaking,  is  quite  another  thing.  In  those 
cafes  and  booths,  in  the  streets  and  squares,  day  and 
night,  throughout  the  time  of  the  kermesse,  servants  and 
laborers,  peasant  men  and  women,  all  classes  and  both 
sexes  of  the  lower  order  of  the  people,  get  drunk, 
dance,  jump,  sing,  yell,  and  make  love,  with  a  fury  and 
license  beside  which  the  disorders  of  our  carnival  are 
innocent  and  childish  diversions.  In  those  days  the 
Dutch  people    change    their   character   so    as    to  be  no 


ALKMAAE.  319 

longer  recognisable.  Habitually  serious,  economically 
modest,  and  domestic,  in  the  time  of  the  kermesse  they 
become  boisterous,  laughing  at  decency,  and  passing  the 
whole  night  away  from  home,  while  they  spend,  in  one 
day,  the  fruit  of  a  whole  month^s  labor. 

The  servant-women,  to  whom  extraordinary  liberty  is 
conceded  at  that  time,  and  who  would  take  it  if  it  were 
not  given,  are  the  principal  performers  in  the  festival. 
Each  one  is  accompanied  by  her  betrothed  husband,  or 
her  lover,  or  by  some  young  fellow  hired  for  the  occasion, 
the  price  varying  according  as  he  wears  a  hat  or  a  cap, 
or  if  he  be  handsome  or  ugly,  a  clown  or  a  smart  fellow. 
The  peasants  come  into  the  town  or  village,  to  enjoy  the 
kei^messe,  on  some  fixed  day,  which  is  called  the  peasants' 
day.  The  culmination  of  the  uproar  is  on  the  Saturday 
night.  It  is  then  no  longer  a  festival,  but  an  orgie,  a 
saturnalia,  which  has  not  its  parallel  in  all  Europe.  I 
refused  for  some  time  to  believe  some  Dutch  friend?;, 
who  painted  the  kermesse  to  me  in  the  most  horrible 
colors,  and  thought  that  they  were  too  rigorous  in  their 
judgments.  But  when  I  heard  the  same  things  con- 
firmed by  unprejudiced  persons,  native  as  well  as  foreign, 
T  was  obliged  to  accept  the  judgment  of  the  Holland- 
ers themselves,  who  call  the  kermesse  a  national  dis- 
grace. It  must  be  said,  however,  that  for  some  time  the 
custom  has  been  losing  ground.  Public  opinion  is 
divided  upon  the  point.  There  are  some  who  favor  it, 
because  it  amuses  them  both  as  actors  and  spectators ; 
and  these  deny  or  excuse  the  disorders,  and  insist  that  a 
pivhibition  of    the  kermesse    would  cause  a  revolution. 


o 


20  HOLLAND, 


There  are  others  who  wisli  to  see  it  suppressed^  and 
desire  the  substitution  of  honest  and  decent  public  enter- 
tainraents_,  the  want  of  which,  in  their  opinion,  is  the 
principal  reason  for  the  excesses  to  which  the  people 
abandon  themselves  on  the  occasion  of  the  kermesse. 
This  latter  opinion  is  growing  stronger  day  by  day.  In 
some  towns  measures  have  been  taken  to  restrain  license ; 
in  others  an  hour  is  fixed^  after  which  all  shops  and 
booths  are  closed ;  in  others  the  booths  are  erected  away 
from  the  centre  of  the  city.  The  authorities  of  Amsterdam 
have  fixed  a  certain  mmiber  of  years_,  after  which  no  pre- 
parations will  be  allowed  for  the  festival.  It  may  there- 
fore be  aftirraed  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the 
famous  kermesse  will  be  reduced  to  a  cheerful  and  tem- 
perate carnival,,  with  great  advantage  to  public  morality 
and  national  dignity. 

These  festivals,  however,  are  not  everywhere  noisy  and 
scandalous  in  the  same  degree.  At  the  Hague,  for  in- 
stance, they  are  much  less  so  than  at  Amsterdam  or  Rot- 
terdam ;  and  I  fancy  (perhaps  because  I  was  not  there 
at  night)  that  at  Alkmaar  they  are  still  less  objectionable 
than  at  the  Hague ;  which,  however,  by  no  means  indi- 
cates that  they  are  models  of  decency. 

The  piazza  when  I  reached  it  was  full  of  booths,  painted 
in  different  colors,  at  whose  doors  mountebanks  in  pink 
tights,  and  female  rope-dancers,  attitudenised  and  chat- 
tered to  attract  an  audience.  Before  each  one  stood  a 
crowd  of  lookers-on,  from  which  two  or  three  peasants 
would  every  now  and  then  emerge  and  enter  the  booth 
to  see  the  spectacle.    I  never  have  seen  gentler  or  simpler 


ALKMAAB,  321 

Tnannerccl  people,  or  more  easy  to  amuse.  Between  one 
tune  and  another,  a  boy  of  ten  years  old,  dressed  as  a 
pantaloon  or  clown,  and  parading  upon  a-  platform  in 
front  of  tlie  booth,  sufficed  to  entertain  and  keep  in  good 
humour  a  crowd  of  two  hundred  persons.  And  this  ho 
did,  not  by  telling  funny  stories,  and  making  puns  like 
the  mountebanks  of  Paris,  nor  by  jumping  and  grimacing, 
but  simply  by  every  now  and  then  making  and  throwing 
among  the  crowd,  with  a  smile,  a  little  paper  arrow. 
This  was  enough  to  make  them  all  laugh  in  the  best 
possible  humour. 

As  I  wandered  about  among  the  shops  and  shows,  I 
met  a  few  peasant  Avomen  slightly  overcome  with  liquor, 
a  little  shaky  on  their  legs,  and  singing  in  cracked  voices  ; 
saw  a  few  couples  exchanging  amorous  glances,  and  met 
some  groups  of  women  who  were  preluding  the  noc- 
turnal exercises  by  giving  shoves  with  hip  and  shoulder 
strong  enough  to  throw  each  other  down ;  but  nothing 
worse  than  this.  The  whole  thing  seemed  to  be  a  con- 
fusion of  people  who  did  not  know  what  to  do  with  them- 
selves. But  as  I  foresaw  that  with  the  eveninsr  would 
commence  a  much  more  dramatic  spectacle,  and  did  not 
care  to  find  myself  alone  in  an  unknown  city  under  such 
exceptionable  circumstances,  I  decided  to  leave  at  once 
for  Helder,  and  returned  to  my  inn  by  the  shortest 
way. 

Upon  my  arrival  there  in  the  morning  I  had  spoken 
with  no  one,  because  the  porter  who  accompanied  me  had 
arranged  about  my  room  and  had  taken  my  valise  to  it. 
However,  I  imagined  that  the  landlord   or  some  one  of 


322  HOLLAND. 

the  waiters  would  be  sure  to  understand  French.  When 
I  returned_,  landlord  and  waiters  were  probably  drinking 
at  some  booth ;  for  at  the  inn  there  was  no  one  but  an 
old  woman,  who  showed  me  into  a  room  on  the  ground- 
floor_,  and  giving  me  to  understand  that  she  did  not  com- 
prehend me,  went  about  her  business.  In  the  room  there 
was  a  company  of  fat  citizens  of  Alkmaar,  who  were 
seated  round  a  table  where  they  appeared  to  have  been 
solemnly  consuming  quantities  of  food  and  drink,  and 
were  now  chattering  and  giggling  with  extraordinary 
vivacity  and  in  a  cloud  of  smoke.  Beholding  me  mute 
and  solitary  in  my  corner,  they  turned  upon  me  from 
time  to  time  compassionate  glances,  and  whispered  in 
each  other's  ears  words  which  I  imagined  to  express  the 
same  sentiment  as  the  glances.  There  is  nothing  more 
disconcerting  to  a  stranger  than  to  find  himself  the  object 
of  commiseration  to  a  company  of  cheerful  natives.  The 
figure  whi::'h  I  made  at  the  moment  may,  therefore,  be 
imagined.  After  a  few  minutes,  one  of  the  stout  citizens 
rose  and  took  his  hat  to  go  out ;  but  before  doing  so,  he 
stopped  opposite  me,  and  said,  with  a  smile  of  polite 
commiseration,  while  he  pronounced  every  syllable  with 
emphasis,  "  Alkmaar  pas  de  plaisir,  Paris  toujours  plaisir.'* 
He  took  me  for  a  Frenchman.  This  said,  he  put  on  his 
hat,  and,  believing  that  he  had  administered  sufficient 
consolation,  went  gravely  out  of  the  house.  He  was  the 
only  one  of  the  party  who  knew  three  words  of  French. 
After  about  fifteen  minutes,  during  which  I  had  fallen 
back  into  my  miserable  state,  a  waiter  came  in.  I  breathed 
again,  ran  to  meet  him,  and   told  him  that  I  wished  to 


ALEMAAB.  323 

leave.  Oh  delusion!  lie  did  not  understand  a  word.  I 
took  him  by  the  arm,  led  him  to  my  room,  pointed  to 
my  valise,  and  made  signs  that  I  wished  to  go.  To  go! 
it  is  easily  said,  but  how  ?  by  boat  ?  by  rail  ?  by  trekschuyt  ? 
He  assumed  that  he  did  not  understand.  I  tried  to  inti- 
mate that  I  wanted  a  carriage.  He  cauf:j1it  the  idea,  but 
said  or  signed  that  there  were  no  carriages.  I  thought 
that  I  would  try  and  find  the  railway  station  myself,  and 
made  signs  that  I  wanted  a  porter.  He  answered  that 
there  were  no  porters.  With  my  watch  in  my  hand,  I 
asked  at  what  hour  the  landlord  would  be  back.  He 
answered  that  the  landlord  was  not  coming  back.  I 
signed  to  him  to  take  up  my  valise  and  carry  it.  He 
answered  that  he  could  not.  I  demanded,  with  a  gesture 
of  despair,  what  I  was  to  do.  He  made  no  reply  and 
stood  looking  at  me  in  silence.  On  such  occasions  I  have 
an  alarming  facility  in  losing  my  patience,  my  courage, 
and  my  head.  I  began  to  rave  in  a  dialect  composed  of 
German,  French,  and  Italian,  opening  and  shutting  my 
guide-book,  tracing  and  effacing  lines  in  my  note-book 
which  were  intended  to  represent  ships  and  locomotives, 
and  rushing  up  and  down  the  room  like  a  madman,  until 
the  poor  waiter,  either  frightened  or  bored,  I  know  not 
which,  slipped  out  at  the  door,  and  left  me  in  the  lurch. 
Then  I  seized  my  valise  in  my  hand,  and  went  down- 
stairs. The  citizens  below,  warned  by  the  waiter  of  my 
eccentric  behaviour,  had  come  out  of  the  dining-room,  and 
were  standing  in  the  hall  as  I  came  down,  looking  at  me 
as  if  I  were  some  patient  escaped  from  a  madhouse.  I 
grew  red  as  fire,  at  which  they  were  still  more  astonished; 


324  HOLLAND. 

and  dropping  my  heavy  valise,  stood  with  my  eyes  fixed 
on  the  floor.  Everybody  looked  at  me^  and  no  one  spoke. 
1  was  more  humiliated  than  I  had  ever  been  in  my  life 
before.  Why  ?  I  cannot  tell.  I  only  know  that  I  had  a 
mist  before  ray  eyes ;  that  I  would  have  given  a  year  of 
my  life  to  have  been  able  to  vanish  like  a  flash  of  light- 
ning ;  that  I  cursed  travelling,  Alkmaar,  the  Dutch  lan- 
guage, my  own  stupidity  ;  and  that  I  thought  of  my  own 
home  like  one  abandoned  of  God  and  man.  All  at  once 
a  boy  emerged  from  I  know  not  where,  seized  my  valise, 
signed  to  me  to  follow,  and  made  off  with  speed.  I  fol- 
lowed without  questioning,  crossed  a  street,  went  through 
a  large  gate,  crossed  a  court,  and  reached  another  gate 
that  opened  on  another  street,  where  the  boy  threw  down 
my  valise,  got  his  pay,  and  making  no  answer  to  my  ques- 
tions, vanished  as  he  had  come.  Where  had  he  brought 
me?  What  had  I  to  do  there?  How  long  should  I  stay 
there?  What  was  going  to  happen  next?  All  was 
mystery. 

It  began  to  grow  dark.  Troops  of  peasant  men 
and  women  went  by  arm  in  arm,  boys  singing,  lovers 
whispering  in  each  other^s  ears  ;  everybody  gay  and  happy, 
and  everybody  looking  at  me  as  I  stood  there  forlorn, 
with  a  glance  of  astonishment  and  pity.  Just  as  I,  in  a 
rage,  was  about  to  seize  my  valise  and  go  back  to  the 
inn,  where  my  revenge  should  be  swift  and  sure — behold  ! 
a  diligence.  It  stopped,  and  the  conductor  signed  to  me 
to  come.  I  inquired  anxiously,  "  To  the  railway  station  ?'^ 
"  Oui,  Monsieur,^'  he  answered  readily,  "  to .  leave  for 
Ilelder.'"'     "Ah  I  may  heaven  bless  you,  conductor  of  my 


ALKMAAB.  32 


6Z0 


soul ! "  I  exclaimed,  as  I  jumped  in  and  put  a  florin  in  his 
hand;  "you  have  brought  me  back  to  life  !  '* 

The  diligence  took  me   to  the  station,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  I  was  on  my  way  to  Helder, 


H ELDER. 


The  definition  that  has  been  given  of  Holland^  as  a  "  sort 
of  transition  from  land  to  sea/^  refers  to  no  part  of  the 
country  more  appropriately  than  to  the  space  which  lies 
between  Alkmaar  and  Helder.  You  travel,  to  be  sure^  in 
going  from  one  city  to  the  other^  on  land ;  but  on  land 
so  broken,  threatened,  and  undermined  by  the  sea,  that, 
looking  at  it  from  the  railway  carriage^  you  could  easily 
fancy  yourself  on  board  ship.  Not  far  from  Alkmaar, 
between  the  two  villages  of  Kamp  and  Petten,  in  the 
direction  of  the  North  Sea,  and  over  a  long  tract  where 
one  of  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  anciently  existed,  the 
chain  of  downs" is  interrupted,  and  the  coast  is  furiously 
beaten  by  the  sea,  which,  in  spite  of  the  strong  defensive 
works  which  oppose  it,  continually  gnaws  into  the  bosom 
of  the  land.  A  little  further  on  there  is  a  large  inun- 
dated polder,  across  which  the  great  Northern  canal 
passes.  Beyond  this  po Icier ,  and  around  the  village  of 
Zandj  extends  a  great  desert  plain,  sprinkled  with  brush- 


HELDEB.  327 

TTOod  and  stagnant  pools^  and  with  a  few  peasants'  huts 
with  pyramidal  roofs  that^  at  a  distance^  look  like  grave- 
stones. Beyond  the  village  of  Zand  there  is  a  vast  polder 
(called  Anna  Paolovna^  in  honor  of  the  wife  of  William  II. 
of  Orange^  a  Russian  Grand  Duchess)  which  was  drained 
between  1847  and  1850.  Then  came  vast  plains^  brush- 
wood, and  pools,  to  the  extreme  point  of  North  Holland, 
where  stands,  veiled  in  fogs  and  beaten  by  wind  and  wave, 
the  youthful  and  solitary  city  of  Helder,  the  dead  sentinel 
of  the  Low  Countries. 

Helder  has  this  peculiarity,  that  when  you  are  in  it, 
you  look  for  the  city  and  fail  to  find  it.  It  may  be  de- 
scribed as  one  single  very  long  street,  bordered  by  two 
rows  of  little  red  houses,  and  protected  by  a  gigantic  dyke, 
forming  a  sort  of  artificial  beach  on  the  North  Sea.  This 
dyke,  which  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  works  of  modern 
times,  extends  a  length  of  almost  ten  kilometres  from  the 
Nieuwediep,  (where  is  situate  the  entrance  to  the  great 
Nortliern  canal,)  as  far  as  the  fort  of  the  Hereditary  Prince 
(which  is  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  city) ;  and  it  is 
constructed  entirely  of  granite  from  Norway  and  Belgian 
limestone.  It  has  a  fine  carriage-road  on  the  top,  and  de- 
scends towards  the  sea  with  an  inclination  of  forty  degrees, 
and  is  sixty  metres  in  depth.  At  various  points  it  is  rein- 
forced by  smaller  dykes,  composed  of  beams,  fascines, 
and  earth,  which  advance  two  hundred  metres  into  the 
sea.  The  highest  tides  do  not  wet  its  top,  and  the 
indefatigable  wave  spends  itself  in  vain  upon  the  mon- 
strous bidMark  that  rises  against  it,  in  an  attitude  of 
defiance  rather  than  defence. 


328  HOLLAND. 

The  Nieuwediep^  wliich  opens  at  one  of  the  extremities 
of  Helder^  is  an  artificial  port  which  protects,  with  its 
great  moles  and  robust  dykes^  the  ships  which  enter  the 
Northern  canal.  The  gates  of  the  basin,  called  fan-gates, 
the  largest  in  Holland,  close  of  themselves  under  the 
pressure  of  the  water.  In  this  harbor  a  great  number 
of  vessels  are  lying  at  anchor^  many  of  which  are  English 
and  Swedish;  and  there  is  also  a  large  part  of  the 
Dutch  war  fleet,  composed  of  frigates  and  smaller  vessels, 
cleaner  than  the  cleanest  of  the  houses  at  Broek. 

On  the  left-hand  shore  of  the  Nieuwediep  there  is  a 
large  naval  arsenal,  with  a  Vice  Admiral  in  residence. 

At  the  end  of  the  last  century  none  of  these  things 
existed.  Helder  was  nothing  but  a  fishing  village,  and 
its  name  was  scarcely  mentioned  on  the  maps.  The 
opening  of  the  great  Northern  canal,  and  a  brief  passage 
made  by  Napoleon  in  a  fisher man^s  boat  from  Helder  to 
the  island  of  Texel,  which  is  seen  distinctly  from  the  top 
of  the  dyke,  transformed  the  village  into  a  city.  Ob- 
serving the  tract  of  sea  comprised  between  that  island 
and  the  sbore  of  Holland,  Napoleon  conceived  the  idea 
of  making  out  of  Helder  a  "  Gibraltar  of  the  North,"  and 
began  by  commanding  the  construction  of  two  forts,  one 
called  at  that  time  Lasalle,  and  now  Hereditary  Prince, 
and  the  other  King  of  Rome,  now  Admiral  Dirk.  Events 
prevented  the  carrying  into  effect  of  his  grand  design; 
but  the  work  begun  by  him  was  slowly  carried  on  by  the 
Hollanders,  and  Helder  is,  at  this  day,  the  first  strong 
city  of  the  State,  capable  of  holding  thirty  thousand  de- 
fenders, and  of  preventing  the  entrance  of  a  fleet  into  the 


HELDEB.  329 

Northern  canal  or  the  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee ;  and  besides 
being  defended  at  a  great  distance  by  a  bulwark  of  rocks 
and  sand-banksj  it  is  so  fortified  as  to  be  able,  in  case 
of  need,  to  inundate  the  whole  province  that  lies  at  its 
back. 

But  leaving  aside  its  strategical  importance  Helder  is 
a  city  worth  seeing  for  its  amphibious  character,  which 
leaves  it  always  dubious  whether  one  is  on  a  continent  or 
a  group  of  rocks  and  islands  a  thousand  miles  distant 
from  the  European  coast.  In  whatever  direction  you 
turn  your  steps  you  always  come  out  in  view  of  the  sea. 
The  town  is  crossed  and  surrounded  by  canals  as  broad 
as  rivers,  which  the  inhabitants  cross  on  rafts.  Behind 
the  great  dyke  lies  a  mass  of  apparently  stagnant  water 
which  rises  and  falls  wdth  the  tide,  as  if  it  had  subter- 
ranean communication  with  the  sea.  On  every  side  there 
is  water,  im prisoned,  indeed,  between  two  banks,  but  high 
and  threatening,  and  looking  as  if  it  watched  for  the 
moment  when  it  might  reconquer  its  dreadful  liberty. 
The  land  all  about  the  town  is  bare  and  desolate,  and  the 
sky,  almost  always  cloudy,  is  crossed  by  great  flocks  of 
aquatic  birds.  The  town  itself,  with  its  one  row  of 
houses,  looks  as  if  it  were  conscious  of  its  dangerous 
situation,  and  expected  hourly  some  catastrophe.  When 
the  wind  howls  and  the  sea  roars,  it  seems  as  if  every 
good  citizen  of  Helder  could  only  shut  himself  up  in  his 
house,  say  his  prayers,  cover  his  head  with  the  bed-clothes 
and  wait  for  God's  decree. 

The  population,  eighteen  thousand  in  number,  is  as 
siugular  in  its  way  as  the  town.     It  is  a  mixture  of  mer* 


330  HOLLAND. 

cliants_,  government  clerks,  naval  officers,  soldiers,  fisher- 
men, people  arriving  from  Tnclia_,  people  about  to  leave, 
and  relations  coming  and  going,  who  come  there  to  give 
the  first  embrace  or  the  last  farewell ;  because  this  is  the 
extreme  angle  of  Dutch  territory  which  the  sailor  salutes 
at  parting,  and  the  first  which  he  greets  on  his  return. 
But  the  town  being  so  long  and  narrow,  few  people  are 
visible  at  a  time;  and  no  sound  is  heard  but  the  lament- 
able chant  of  the  sailors,  oppressing  the  spirits  like  the  cry 
of  shipw^recked  men  afar  off. 

Although  so  young,  Helder  is  as  rich  in  grand  his- 
torical records  as  other  Dutch  cities.  She  saw  the  Grand 
Pensionary  De  Witt  cross  for  the  first  time,  in  a  small 
boat,  the  straits  of  Texel,  sounding  wdth  his  owm  hands 
the  depth  of  the  water,  and  demonstrating,  to  the  pilots 
and  captains  who  would  not  venture  it,  the  possibility  of 
the  passage  for  the  fleet  sent  to  fight  England.  In  those 
days  Admirals  de  Ruyter  and  Van  Tromp  held  front 
against  the  imited  French  and  English  fleets.  Not  far 
from  thence,  in  the  polder  called  the  Zyp,  in  the  year 
1799,  the  English  general  Abercrombie  repulsed  the 
assault  of  the  French  and  Batavian  army  commanded  by 
Brome.  And  lastly,  since  it  seems  that  by  some  natural 
law  every  Dutch  city  must  have  some  strange  and  in- 
credible experience,  Helder  witnessed  a  sort  of  amphi- 
bious combat  between  land  and  sea,  a  name  for  which  is 
wanting  in  military  language;  it  saw  in  1795  the  cavalry 
and  light  artillery  of  General  Pichegru  gallop  across  the 
frozen  gulf  of  Zuyder  Zee  to  attack  the  Dutch  fleet  which 
was  imprisoned  in  the  ice  near  the  island  of  Texel,  and 


EELDEB.  331 

suiTouncling  it   as  if  it  were  a  fortress,   call  upon  it  to 
surrender,  which  it  did. 

This  ishmd  of  Texel,  which,  as  has  been  said,  can  be 
distinctly  seen  from  the  top  of  the  dykes  of  Hclder,  is  the 
first  of  a  chain  of  islets  which  extends  in  the  form  of  a 
bow  across  the  opening  of  the  Zuyder  Zee  as  far  as  thv. 
province  of  Groningcn ;  and  which,  before  the  existence 
of  the  great  gulf,  is  be  Jeved  to  have  formed  a  continuous 
coast,  which  served  as  a  bulwark  to  the  Low  Countries. 

This  island  of  Texel,  which  has  onlv  six  thousand  in- 
habitants  scattered  about  in  a  few  villages,  has  a  harbor 
where  sliips  of  war  and  Indiamen  can  lie  at  anchor.  It 
was  from  here  that,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
the  vessels  of  Heetnskerk  and  Barendz  set  sail  fur  that 
memorable  voyage  which  furnished  to  the  poet  Tollenz 
the  subject  of  his  fine  poem,  "  The  Winter  of  the  Hol- 
landers in  Nova  Zcmbla." 

And  here,  briefly,  is  the  sad  and  solemn  story,  as  it  is 
told  by  Van  Kampfen,  and  sung  by  Tollenz. 

At  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  Dutch,  not 
being  able  to  struggle  front  to  front  with  the  Spaniards 
and  Portuguese  for  the  mastery  of  the  East  Indian  trade, 
bethought  themselves  of  finding  a  new  road  through  the 
Arctic  seas,  by  which  they  might  reach  in  less  time  the 
ports  of  China  and  Eastern  xVsia.  A  company  of  Dutch 
merchants  confided  the  enterprise  to  an  expert  sailor 
named  Barendz,  who  sailed  with  two  sliips  from  the 
island  of  Texel,  on  the  6th  of  June  1594,  towards  the  pole. 
The  vessel  commanded  by  him  reached  the  northern 
point  of  Nova  Zembla,  and  returned  to  Holland.    The  other 


332  HOLLAND, 

ship  took  the  better-known  way  of  the  straits  of  Wai- 
gatZj  pushed  its  way  through  the  ice  of  the  gulf  of  Kara, 
and  arrived  in  an  open  blue  sea,  from  which  the  Eussiau 
coast  turned  tow^ards  the  north-east  was  visible.  The 
direction  of  this  coast  made  them  believe  that  the  vessel 
had  passed  beyond  Cape  Tabis_,  designated  by  Pliny  (an 
authority  at  that  time  uncontested)  as  the  northern  ex- 
tremity of  Asia,  and  that,  therefore,  they  could  from 
there,  by  a  short  voyage,  reach  the  eastern  and  southern 
ports  of  the  continent.  It  was  not  known  that,  after  the 
gulf  of  the  Obi,  Asia  still  extended  for  one  hundred  and 
twenty  degrees  in  an  easterly  direction  within  the  polar 
circle.  The  news  of  the  supposed  discovery  caused  great 
joy  in  Holland.  Six  large  ships  were  immediately  loaded 
with  merchandise  for  the  people  of  India,  a  smaller 
vessel  was  sent  to  accompany  the  squadron  until  it  had 
sailed  beyond  the  supposititious  Cape  Tabis,  when  it  w^as 
to  return  with  the  news  to  Holland;  and  the  fleet  sailed. 
But  this  time  the  voyage  did  not  answer  to  their  hopes. 
The  Dutch  vessels  found  the  straits  of  Waigatz  all  en- 
cumbered with  ice,  and  after  having  in  vain  tried  to  open 
a  passage,  returned  to  Holland. 

After  this  failure,  the  States  General,  while  promising 
a  reward  of  twenty-five  thousand  florins  to  whoever  should 
succeed  in  the  enterprise,  refused  to  share  in  the  expenses 
of  a  new  voyage ;  but  the  citizens  were  not  to  be  dis- 
couraged. Amsterdam  hired  two  ships, .  selected  the 
bravest  of  her  sailors,  bachelors,  so  that  the  remembrance 
of  their  famiUes  might  not  weaken  their  courage  in  time 
of  peril,  and  gave  the  command  of  the  expedition  to  the 


EEL  DEB.  333 

valiant  Ileemskerk.  The  two  vessels  sailed  on  the  18th 
of  May  1596.  Barendz  was  master-pilot  on  hoarrl  of 
one,  and  Van  de  Kyp,  captain  of  the  other.  At  first  they 
could  not  agree  as  to  the  direction  to  be  taken;  but  finally 
Barendz  was  persuaded  by  Van  de  Ryp  to  steer  toward « 
the  north  instead  of  the  north-east.  They  arrived  at  the 
74°  of  north  latitude,  near  a  small  island,  to  which  they 
gave  the  name  of  Bear  Island  in  memory  of  a  combat  of 
several  hours  which  they  sustained  against  a  troop  of  those 
animals.  Around  them  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen 
but  high  and  broken  rocks  which  seemed  to  close  in  the 
sea  on  all  sides.  They  continued  to  steer  towards  the 
north.  On  the  19th  of  June  they  discovered  a  country 
which  they  called  Spitzbergen  because  of  its  sharp-pointed 
rocks,  and  which  they  believed  to  be  a  part  of  Greenland ; 
and  there  they  saw  great  white  bears,  deer,  reindeer, 
wild  ducks,  enormous  whales,  and  foxes  of  all  colors. 
From  here,  having  arrived  between  the  seventy-sixth 
and  eightieth  degrees  of  north  latitude,  they  were  to  turn 
southwards  and  come  to  anchor  once  more  near  Bear 
Island.  Barendz,  however,  would  not  follow  any  more 
the  northern  course  pointed  out  by  Van  de  Byp,  and 
turned  towards  the  south-east;  Byp  made  sail  towards 
the  north,  and  thus  they  were  separated. 

Barendz  arrived  on  the  17th  of  Julv  near  Nova  Zem- 
bla,  followed  the  northern  coast  of  that  island,  and  con- 
tinued to  sail  southwards.  Then  their  adversities  began. 
As  they  went  on,  the  enormous  masses  of  floating  ice, 
becoming  thicker,  were  joined  together  in  vast  strata, 
and  piled  up  into  steep  and  lofty  mountains,  so  that  in  a 


334.  HOLLAND, 

short  time  tlie  ship  found  herself  in  the  miclst  of  an  icy 
continent_,  whose  white  peaks  rose  on  the  horizon  all 
about  her.  Seeing  that  it  was  impossible  to  reach  the 
eastern  shore  of  Asia^  they  thought  to  turn  back ;  but  it 
was  now  the  25th  of  August,  and  in  those  regions  the 
summer  was  already  at  an  end.  They  were  not  long  in 
finding  out  that  to  go  back  was  impossible.  They  were 
imprisoned  in  the  ice,  lost  in  a  frightful  solitude,  sur- 
rounded by  dense  fog,  aimless  and  hopeless,  and  every 
moment  exposed  to  the  danger  of  being  crushed  under 
the  mountains  of  floating  ice  that  groaned  and  thundered 
about  the  ship.  One  only  chance  of  safety  remained  to 
them,  or  rather  a  means  of  delaying  death  :  they  were 
near  the  coast  of  Nova  Zembla,  they  could  abandon  the 
ship,  and  attempt  to  pass  the  winter  in  that  desolate 
island.  It  was  a  desperate  resolution,  requiring  not  less 
courage  than  to  remain  on  board ;  but  at  least  they  would 
have  action,  struggle,  a  new  form  of  danger.  After  some 
hesitation,  they  left  the  ship  and  landed  on  the  island. 

It  was  uninhabited;  none  of  the  northern  races  had 
ever  put  foot  upon  it;  it  was  a  desert  of  snow  and  ice, 
beaten  by  wind  and  sea,  upon  which  the  sun  but  rarely 
let  "fall  a  fugitive  ray,  without  warmth  or  cheer.  Never- 
theless the  poor  shipwrecked  men  sent  up  a  shout  of  joy 
when  their  feet  touched  the  land,  and  knelt  down  in 
the  snow  to  give  thanks  to  Providence.  They  set  to  work 
at  once  to  build  a  shelter.  There  was  not  a  tree  on  the 
island;  but  by  good  fortune  they  found  a  quantity  of 
floating  wood  brought  by  the  sea  from  the  continent. 
They  went  to  work,  returned  to  the  ship,  and  brought 


EELDEB.  335 

away  planks  and  beams^  nails^  pitch,  boxcs^  and  casks  ; 
planted  tlie  beams  in  the  ice^  made  a  roof  of  what  had 
been  the  deck,  hung  up  their  hammocks,  lined  the  walls 
with  sails,  stopped  up  the  holes  with  pitch.  But  as  their 
work  went  on  they  suffered  in  unheard-of  ways,  and 
were  in  constant  danger.  The  cold  was  so  great  that 
when  they  put  nails  in  their  moutlis,  they  froze  there, 
and  could  only  be  taken  out  by  tearing  the  flesh  and  filling 
the  mouth  with  blood.  White  bears,  wdkl  with  hunger, 
assailed  them  furiously  among  the  ice,  around  their  cabin, 
even  in  tlie  interior  of  the  ship;  and  obliged  them  to 
leave  their  labor  in  order  to  defend  their  lives.  The  earth 
was  frozen  so  hard  that  it  had  to  be  broken  with  the  pick 
like  fctone.  Around  the  vessel  the  water  was  frozen  to  a 
depth  of  three  and  a  half  fathoms.  The  beer  was  solid 
in  its  casks,  and  had  lost  all  flavor;  and  the  cold  increased 
daily.  At  last  they  succeeded  in  rendering  their  cabin 
habitable,  and  were  sheltered  from  the  snow  and  wind. 
They  lighted  a  fire  and  were  able  to  sleep  a  few  hours  at 
a  time  when  not  wakened  by  the  howls  of  the  wild  beasts 
that  lingered  about  the  cabin.  They  fed  their  lamjjs 
with  the  fat  of  the  bears  which  thev  killed  throujrh  the 
cracks  of  the  walls,  they  warmed  their  hands  in  the 
bleeding  bowels,  they  made  coverings  of  the  skins,  and 
they  ate  foxes,  and  herrings,  and  biscuits  from  the  ship^s 
stores.  Meantime  the  cold  increased  so  that  the  bears 
did  not  leave  their  holes.  Food  and  drink  was  frozen 
hard  even  when  placed  close  to  the  fire.  The  poor  sailors 
burned  their  hands  and  feet  without  feeling  any  heat. 
One  night  when  from  fear  of  the  cold  they  had  hermetically 


336  HOLLAND, 

closed  the  cabin,  they  were  within  an  ace  of  dying 
of  suffocation,  and  were  forced  to  brave  once  more  that 
awful  cold. 

To  all  these  calamities  one  more  was  added.  On  the 
4th  of  November  they  awaited  sunrise  in  vain ;  the  sun 
appeared  no  more  ;  the  polar  night  had  begun.  Then 
these  iron  men  felt  their  courage  fail  them^  and  Barendz^ 
concealing  his  own  anguish  as  he  could^  had  to  spend  all 
the  eloquence  that  he  possessed  in  persuading  them  not 
to  give  way  to  despair.  Food  and  fuel  began  to  grow 
scarcer ;  the  wood  found  upon  the  shore  was  thrown 
upon  the  fire  with  regret;  the  lamp  hardly  gave  light 
enough  to  pierce  the  thick  darkness.  Notwithstanding 
all  this,  in  the  evening  when  they  gathered  about  the 
fire,  they  still  had  some  moments  of  cheerfulness.  On 
the  King's  birthday  they  made  a  little  feast  with  wine,  and 
flour  paste  fried  in  whale-oil,  and  drew  lots  as  to  which 
of  them  should  wear  the  crown  of  Nova  Zembla.  At 
other  times  they  played  cards,  told  old  stories,  gave  toasts 
to  the  glory  of  Maurice  of  Orange,  and  talked  about  their 
families.  Every  day  they  sang  psalms  together,  kneeling 
on  the  ice,  their  faces  lifted  to  the  stars.  Sometimes  the 
aurora  borealis  broke  the  great  darkness  which  surrounded 
them ;  and  then  they  came  forth  from  their  cabin,  run- 
ning along  the  shore,  and  greeting  with  tender  gratitude 
the  fugitive  light  as  a  promise  of  salvation. 

According  to  their  computation,  the  sun  should  re- 
appear on  the  9th  of  February  1597.  They  were  wrong. 
On  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  January,  exactly  at  a 
moment  when  they  had  reached  the  depths  of  sadness  and 


EEL  DEB,  337 

disconraa:cment,  one  of  tlicm,  on  awalcin^,  saw  an  extra- 
ordinary liglit^  gave  a  sliont,  sprang  to  his  feet^  woke  his 
companions,  and  all  went  out  of  the  cabin.  There  in  the 
east  the  sky  was  illuminated  by  a  clear  radiance ;  the 
moon  was  pale,  the  air  limpid,  the  summits  of  the  rocks 
and  mountains  tinged  with  rose;  the  dawn  at  last,  the 
sun,  life,  the  benediction  of  God,  and  the  hope  of  once 
more  seeino;  their  country  after  three  months  of  darkness 
and  anguish.  For  a  few  minutes  they  stood  silent  and 
motionless,  overcome  by  emotion  ;  then  tlicy  broke  into 
cries  and  tears,  embraced  each  other,  waved  their  ragged 
caps,  and  made  those  horrid  solitudes  resound  with 
accents  of  prayer  and  joyful  shouts.  But  their  joy  was 
brief.  They  looked  in  each  other's  faces,  and  were  filled 
with  terror  and  pity  the  one  for  the  other.  Cold,  sleep- 
lessness, hunger,  and  anguish  of  spirit  had  so  consumed 
and  changed  them  that  they  were  unrecognisable.  And 
their  sufi'erings  were  not  yet  over.  In  that  same  month 
the  snow  fell  in  such  abundance  that  the  cabin  was 
almost  completely  buried,  and  they  were  obliged  to  go  in 
and  out  by  the  opening  of  the  chimney.  As  the  cold 
diminished  the  bears  reappeared,  and  the  danger,  the 
sleepless  nights,  the  fierce  combats  began  again.  Their 
strength  declined,  and  their  hearts,  a  little  lifted,  fell  once 
more. 

They  had  still,  however,  one  slight  thread  of  hope.  It 
being  hopeless  to  think  of  getting  their  vessel  out  of 
the  ice,  they  had  brought  ashore  a  boat  and  a  shallop, 
and  little  by  little,  always  defending  their  lives  against 
the  bears,  who  attacked  them  even  on   the  threshold  of 


338  HOLLAND, 

their  liut^  tLey  had  succeeded  in  repairing  them.  With 
these  two  small  boats  they  intended  to  try  and  reach  one 
of  the  small  Russian  ports_,  by  running  along  the  northern 
coast  of  Nova  Zembla  and  Sibrria,  and  crossing  the 
White  Sea ;  to  make^  in  shorty  a  voyage  of  at  least  four 
hundred  German  miles.  During  the  whole  month  of 
March  the  variable  weather  kept  them  between  hope  and 
despair.  More  than  ten  times  had  they  seen  the  sea 
cleared  of  ice  up  to  the  shore,  and  had  made  ready  to 
depart ;  and  as  many  times  a  great  increase  of  cold  had 
again  piled  up  the  ice  and  shut  them  in.  April  and  May 
passed  in  this  way.  At  last,  in  June,  they  were  able  to 
make  ready  to  depart.  After  having  drawn  up  a  minute 
relation  of  all  their  adventures,  a  copy  of  which  they  left 
in  the  cabin,  on  the  morning  of  the  14th  of  June,  with 
beautiful  weather,  and  the  open  sea  on  every  side,  after 
nine  months'  sojourn  in  that  fearful  place,  they  set  sail 
towards  the  continent.  In  two  open  boats,  exhausted  by 
protracted  sufferings,  they  went  to  brave  the  furious  winds, 
the  long  rains,  the  mortal  cold,  the  whirling  ice-fields 
of  that  immense  and  terrible  sea  where  it  seemed  a  despe- 
rate enterprise  to  venture  with  a  fleet.  For  a  long  time 
during  the  voyage  they  had  to  repulse  the  attacks  of  the 
white  bears ;  they  suffered  from  hunger,  feeding  on  birds 
which  they  killed  with  stones,  and  eggs  found  upon  the 
desolate  shore;  they  hoped  and  despaired,  they  were 
cheerful  or  they  wept,  sometimes  bewailing  themselves 
that  they  had  abandoned  Nova  Zembla,  sometimes  in- 
voking the  tempest  and  praying  for  death.  Often  they 
had  to  drag  their  boats  over  fields  of   ice,  to  tie  them 


HELDER.  339 

down  lest  they  should  be  carried  away  by  the  vvind,  to 
gather  themselves  to^^jcther  in  a  close  group  in  tlie  midst 
of  the  snow  in  order  to  resist  the  cokl^  to  call  to  each 
other  through  the  dense  fog,  and  hold  together  in  the 
fear  of  being  scattered  and  lost,  and  to  gather  courage 
from  each  other's  touch.  All  did  not  resist  such  tre- 
mendous trials  of  their  strength.  Barendz  himself,  who 
was  not  well  when  he  embarked,  felt,  after  a  few  days, 
his  end  approaching,  and  told  his  companions.  He  never 
ceased,  however,  to  direct  their  course,  and  to  make  every 
effort  to  shorten  for  those  unfortunate  men  the  tremen- 
dous voyage,  the  end  of  which  he  knew  he  could  not  live 
to  see.  Life  left  him  as  he  was  examining  a  map ;  his  arm 
fell  stiffly  in  the  act  of  pointing  out  the  distant  land,  and 
his  last  words  were  those  of  encouragement  and  counsel. 
In  the  bay  of  Saint  Lawrence  they  met,  it  may  be  ima- 
gined with  what  joy,  a  Russian  bark,  which  gave  them 
some  provisions,  some  wine,  and  lime-juice,  a  remedy 
against  the  scurvy,  from  which  several  of  the  sailors  were 
suffering,  and  which  speedily  cured  them.  They  coasted 
along  Siberia,  and  met  other  Russian  vessels  more  and 
more  frequently,  from  them  receiving  fresh  provisions 
and  thus  gradually  restoring  their  strength.  At  the  en- 
trance of  the  White  Sea  a  dense  fog  separated  the  two 
boats,  which,  however,  both  weathered  Cape  Caudnoes, 
and,  favored  by  the  wind,  made  one  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  in  thirty  hours,  after  which  they  met  again  with 
shouts  of  joy.  But  a  still  greater  joy  awaited  them  at 
Kilduin.  They  found  there  a  letter  from  Von  de  Ryp, 
captain  of  the  other    ship   which  had  sailed    with  them 


340  HOLLAND. 

from  Texelj  announcing  his  safe  arrival.  In  a  short  time 
the  two  boats  rejoined  the  ship  at  Kola.  It  was  the  first 
time  that  the  shipwrecked  men  from  Nova  Zembla  had 
seen  the  flag  of  their  country  since  their  departure  froai 
Bear  Island,  and  they  greeted  it  in  a  perfect  delirium  of 
oy.  The  crew  of  Yon  de  Ryp  and  the  companions  of 
poor  Barendz  embraced  each  other  with  tears,  relating 
their  adventures,  lamenting  their  dead  comrades^  and  for- 
getting their  past  sufferings  in  the  joy  of  meeting.  All  set 
sail  for  Holland,  where  they  arrived  safe  and  sound  on  the 
29th  of  October  1597,  three  months  after  their  departure 
from  the  hut  at  Nova  Zembla.  Thus  ended  the  last  at- 
tempt of  the  Dutch  to  open  a  new  road  for  the  East 
Indian  trade  across  the  Polar  seas.  Almost  three  cen- 
turies later,  in  1870,  the  captain  of  a  Swedish  vessel, 
thrown  by  a  tempest  on  the  coast  of  Nova  Zembla,  found 
there  the  carcass  of  a  ship  and  a  hut.  In  the  last  were 
two  copper  kettles,  a  pendulum,  a  gun-barrel,  a  sword^  a 
hatchet,  a  flute,  a  Bible,  and  some  boxes  full  of  tools  and 
rotten  fragments  of  clothing.  These  objects,  recognised 
by  the  Hollanders  as  having  belonged  to  the  crews  of 
Barendz  and  Heemskerke,  were  carried  in  triumph  to  the 
Hague,  and  are  exhibited  as  sacred  relics  in  the  naval 
museum. 

With  all  these  images  in  my  mind,  in  the  evening,  on 
the  dyke  at  Helder,  by  the  light  of  the  moon  that  now 
abruptly  hid  herself  behind  a  cloud,  and  now  showed  her- 
self in  all  her  glory,  I  could  not  tire  of  looking  at  the 
sandy  shore  of  that  island  of  Texel,  and  that  great  North 
Sea,  which  on  that  side  has  no  boundary  but  the  Polar 


EELDER.  341 

ice;  the  sea  which  the  ancients  believed  to  be  the  end  of 
the  universe — ''ilium  usque  tantum  natura/'  as  Tacitus 
says;  the  sea  on  which^  in  days  of  tempest,  the  gigantic 
forms  of  the  German  divinities  appeared ;  and  as  my  eyes 
wandered  over  the  ijpimense  and  sinister  waste,  I  could 
only  express  to  myself  my  mysterious  dread  by  exclaiming 
in  an  undertone,  "  Barendz  !  Barendz  ! ''  and  listening  to 
the  sound  of  that  name  as  if  brought  by  the  wind  from 
an  immense  distance. 


SU  HOLLAND. 


THE   ZUYDER   ZEE. 


I  HAD  yet  to  see  ancient  Frisia^  Rome^s  indomitable  rebel, 
the  land  of  handsome  women,  big  horses^  and  invisible 
skaters,  the  most  poetic  of  the  Netherland  provinces ;  and 
in  going  there  I  was  to  satisfy  another  lively  wish  of 
minCj  that  of  crossing  the  Zuyder  Zee,  the  latest-born  of 
seas. 

This  great  basin  of  the  North  Sea_,  which  bathes  five 
provinces,  and  has  an  extent  of  more  than  seven  hundred 
square  kilometres,  six  hundred  years  ago  was  not  in  ex- 
istence. North  Holland  touched  Frieslaud,  and  where 
the  gulf  now  extends  there  was  a  vast  region  sprinkled 
with  fresh- water  lakes,  the  largest  of  which,  the  Flevo, 
mentioned  by  Tacitus,  was  separated  from  the  sea  by  a 
fertile  and  populous  isthmus.  Whether  the  sea  by  its 
own  force  broke  through  the  natural  dykes  of  the  region, 
or  Avhether  the  sinking  of  the  land  left  it  free  to  invasion, 
is  not  certainly  known.  The  great  transformation  was 
completed  during  the  course  of  the  thirteenth  century. 


THE  ZUYDEB  ZEE.  343 

In  1205  the  island  of  Wierliigen,  posted  at  the  extremity 
of  North  Holland,  still  made  part  of  the  continent ;  in 
1251  it  was  already  separated  from  it.  In  its  later  in- 
vasions, the  sea  submerged  various  parts  of  the  isthmus 
which  separated  its  waters  from  those  of  the  lake  of  Flevo, 
until  in  1282,  opening  for  itself  a  breach  in  that  shat- 
tered bulwark,  it  broke  into  the  lakes,  invaded  the  land, 
and  enlarging  as  it  proceeded,  formed  the  vast  gulf  now 
known  as  the  Zuyder  Zee,  or  Southern  Sea,  which  sends 
an  arm,  the  Y,  as  far  as  Beverwijk  and  Haarlem.  About 
the  formation  of  this  gulf  there  has  collected  a  varied  and 
confused  history  of  cities  destroyed  and  people  drowned,  to 
which  has  been  added  in  later  times  another  history,  of  new 
cities  rising  on  new  shores,  becoming  powerful  and  famous, 
and  being  in  their  turn  reduced  to  poor  and  mean  villages, 
with  streets  overgrown  with  grass,  and  sand-choked  ports. 
Records  of  great  calamities,  wonderful  traditions,  fan- 
tastic horrors,  strange  usages  and  customs,  are  found 
upon  the  waters  and  about  the  shores  of  this  peculiar  sea, 
born  but  yesterday,  and  already  encircled  with  ruins  and 
condemned  to  disappear;  and  a  months  voyage  would 
not  suffice  to  gather  up  the  chief  of  them  ;  but  the  thought 
alone  of  beholding  from  a  distance  those  decrepit  cities, 
those  mysterious  islands,  those  fatal  sand-banks,  irre- 
sistibly excited  my  imagination. 

I  left  Amsterdam  towards  the  end  of  February,  in 
beautiful  weather,  on  board  one  of  the  steamboats  that 
go  to  Harlingen.  I  knew  that  it  was  the  last  time  I 
should  see  the  capital  of  Holland.  Leaning  over  the  rail- 
ing at   the  prow  as  the  vessel  left  the  Dort^  I  contem- 


344  HOLLAND. 

plated  for  the  last  time  the  great  city,  trying  to  impress 
indelibly  on  my  memory  its  fantastic  aspect.  In  a  few 
minutes  I  saw  nothing  but  the  black  irregular  outline  of 
its  houses,  above  which  rose  the  dome  of  the  palace  and 
a  forest  of  shining  steeples.  Then  the  city  sank ;  the 
steeples  vanished  one  after  another ;  the  highest  point  of 
the  cathedral,  visible  for  a  moment  above  the  rest,  sank  in 
its  turn  into  the  sea ;  and  Amsterdam  was  nothing  but  a 
memory. 

The  steamboat  passed  between  the  gigantic  dykes  that 
shut  in  the  gulf  of  the  Y,  rapidly  crossed  the  ''  Pampus,''' 
the  great  sand-bank  that  nearly  ruined  the  trade  of  Am- 
sterdam, and  entered  the  Zuyder  Zee. 

The  shores  of  this  gulf  are  all  meadows,  gardens,  and 
villages,  which,  in  the  summer,  present  an  enchanting 
aspect ;  but  seen  from  the  steamboat,  and  in  February, 
show  only  as  a  faint  streak  of  dull  green  separating  the 
sea  and  sky.  The  shore  of  North  Holland  is  the  finest, 
and  along  this  our  vessel  steamed. 

After  crossing  the  Pampus,  we  turned  to  the  left  and 
passed  at  a  short  distance  the  island  of  Marken. 

Marken  is  as  famous  among  the  islands  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee  as  Broek  is  among  the  villages  of  Holland  ;  but  with 
all  its  fame,  and  although  distant  but  one  hour  by  boat 
from  the  coast,  few  are  the  strangers,  and  still  fewer  the 
natives  who  visit  it.  So  said  the  captain  as  he  pointed 
out  the  light-house  of  the  little  island,  and  added  that  in 
his  opinion  the  reason  was,  that  when  a  stranger  arrived 
at  Marken,  even  if  he  were  a  Dutchman,  he  was  followed 
by  a  crowd  of  boys,  watched,  and  commented  upon  as  ii 


THE  ZUYDEB  ZEK  345 

he  were  a  man  fallen  from  the  moon.  This  unusual 
curiosity  is  explained  by  a  description  of  the  island.  It  is 
a  bit  of  land  about  three  thousand  metres  in  length  and 
one  thousand  in  widths  which  was  detached  from  the 
continent  in  the  thirteenth  centui'y,  and  remains  to  this 
day,  in  the  manners  and  customs  of  its  inhabitants,  ex- 
actly as  it  was  .six  centuries  ago.  The  surface  of  the 
island  is  but  little  higher  than  the  sea,  and  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  small  dyke  which  does  not  suffice  to  protect 
it  from  inundation.  The  houses  are  built  upon  eight 
small  artificial  elevations,  and  form  as  many  boroughs, 
one  of  which — the  one  which  has  the  church — is  the 
capital,  and  another  the  cemetery.  AYhen  the  sea  rises 
above  the  dyke,  the  spaces  between  the  little  hills  are 
changed  into  canals,  and  the  inhabitants  go  about  in 
boats.  The  houses  are  built  of  wood,  some  painted,  some 
only  pitched;  one  only  is  of  stone,  that  of  the  pastor, 
who  also  has  a  small  garden  shaded  by  four  large  trees, 
the  only  ones  on  the  island.  Next  to  this  house  are  the 
church,  the  school,  and  the  municipal  offices.  The  popu- 
lation is  about  one  thousand  in  number,  and  lives  by 
fishing.  With  the  exceptions  of  the  doctor,  the  pastor, 
and  the  schoolmaster,  all  are  native  to  the  island ;  no 
islander  marries  on  the  continent ;  no  one  from  the 
mainland  comes  to  live  on  the  island.  They  all  profess  the 
refornied  religion,  and  all  know  how  to  read  and  write. 
In  the  schools  more  than  two  hundred  boys  and  girls 
are  taught  history,  geography,  and  arithmetic.  The 
fashion  of  dress,  which  has  not  been  changed  for  cen- 
turies, is   the  same  for  all,  and  extremely  curious.     The 


346  HOLLAND. 

men  look  like  soldiers.  They  wear  a  dark  grey  cloth 
jacket  ornamented  with  two  rows  of  buttons  which  are 
in  general  medals,  or  ancient  coins,  handed  down  from 
father  to  son.  This  jacket  is  tucked  into  the  waistband 
of  a  pair  of  breeches  of  the  same  color,  very  wide  about 
the  hips  and  tight  around  the  leg,  fastening  below  the 
knee ;  a  felt  hat  or  a  fur  cap,  according  to  the  season ;  a 
red  cravat,  black  stockings,  white  wooden  shoes,  or  a  sort 
of  slipper,  complete  the  costume.  That  of  the  women  is 
still  more  peculiar.  They  wear  on  their  heads  an  enor- 
mous white  cap  in  the  form  of  a  mitre,  all  ornamented 
with  lace  and  needlework,  and  tied  under  the  chin  like  a 
helmet.  From  under  the  cap,  which  completely  covers  the 
ears,  fall  two  long  braided  tresses,  which  hang  over  the 
bosom,  and  a  sort  of  visor  of  hair  comes  down  upon  the 
forehead,  cut  square  just  above  the  eyebrows.  The  dress 
is  composed  of  a  waist  without  sleeves,  and  a  petticoat  of 
two  colors.  The  waist  is  deep  red,  embroidered  in  colors 
and  costing  years  of  labor  to  make,  for  which  reason  it 
descends  from  mother  to  daughter,  from  generation  to 
generation.  The  upper  part  of  the  petticoat  is  grey  or 
blue  striped  with  black,  and  the  lower  part  dark  brown. 
The  arms  are  covered  almost  to  the  elbow  with  the  sleeves 
of  a  white  chemise,  striped  with  red.  The  children  are 
dressed  in  almost  the  same  way,  though  there  is  some 
slight  difference  between  girls  and  women,  and  on  holidays 
the  costume  is  more  richly  ornamented. 

Such  is  the  costume — a  mixture  of  the  oriental,  the 
warlike,  and  the  sacred ;  and  the  customs  and  manner  of 
life  of  the  inhabitants  are  quite  as  strange.     The  men  are 


Woman  and  Child  of  Marken.     {Pa^e  346.) 


TRIE  ZUYBER  ZEE.  347 

extraorcliiiarily  sober,  and  live  to  a  great  age.  Tliey  leave 
the  island  every  Sunday  night  with  their  boats,  pass  the 
week  fishing  in  the  Zuyder  Zee,  and  return  on  the  Satur- 
day. The  women  educate  the  children,  cultivate  the 
ground,  and  make  the  clotliing  for  the  family.  Like  all 
the  other  Dutch  women,  they  love  cleanliness  and  orna- 
naent,  and  in  their  cabins  also  are  to  be  seen  the  inevitable 
white  curtains,  glass  cups,  embroidered  bed-covers,  look- 
ing-glasses, and  flowers.  The  greater  part  of  them  never 
see  any  other  land  than  that  of  their  little  island.  They 
are  poor;  but  knowing  nothing  of  any  better  condition, 
and  having  no  wants  or  desires  that  cannot  be  satisfied, 
they  are  unconscious  of  their  own  poverty.  Among  them 
there  is  neitlier  change  of  fortune  nor  distinction  of  class. 
Evervbody  works,  nobody  serves.  The  only  events  which 
vary  the  monotony  of  their  lives  are  births,  marriages, 
deaths,  an  abundant  catch  of  fish,  the  arrival  of  a  stranger, 
the  passage  of  a  vessel,  a  tempest  on  the  sea.  They  pray 
they  love,  they  fish.  Such  is  their  life;  and  so  generation 
succeeds  to  generation,  preserving  unaltered,  like  a  sacred 
heiiloom,  the  innocence  of  their  manners,  and  their 
ignorance  of  the  worUl. 

Passing  beyond  the  island  of  Marken  we  see  on  the 
North  Holland  side  a  steeple,  a  group  of  red  houses, 
and  some  sails.  It  is  Monnickendam,  a  village  of  three 
thousand  inhabitants,  formerly  a  flourishing  city,  which, 
in  conjunction  with  Hoorn  and  Enckhuysen,  conquered 
and  took  prisoner  the  Spanish  Admiral  Bossu,  and  took 
from  him,  as  a  trophy,  the  collar  of  the  Gulden  Fleece ; 
the  other  two  cities  had  his  sword  and  his  drinking-cup. 


348  HOLLAND 

After  Monnickendam  is  seen  the  village  of  Volendam, 
and  after  Volendam  the  small  city  of  Edam,  from  which 
the  famous  cheese  with  the  red  rind  takes  its  name,  fama 
super  etera  notus. 

A  curious  legend,  represented  in  an  old  bas-relief  over 
one  of  the  doors,  belongs  to  this  place.  Some  hundreds 
of  years  ago  some  young  girls  of  Edam,  who  were  walking 
on  thg  beach,  saw  a  strange-looking  woman  swimming 
in  the  sea,  and  stopping  every  now  and  then  to  look 
curiously  at  them.  They  called  to  her,  and  she  drew  near  ; 
they  made  signs  to  her  to  come  out  of  the  water,  and  she 
stepped  out  upon  the  beach.  She  was  a  beautiful  woman, 
naked  as  she  was  born,  except  for  the  mud,  and  the  sea- 
weed that  grew  upon  her  skin  as  moss  grows  on  the 
bark  of  trees.  Some  think  that  she  had  a  Ashe's  tail,  but 
a  grave  chronicler,  who  had  lieard  the  fact  related  by  an 
eye-witness,  declares  that  her  legs  were  like  those  of 
other  women.  Tliey  questioned  her,  and  she  did  not 
understand,  but  answered  in  a  sweet  voice  and  a  language 
unknown  to  them.  They  took  her  home,  scraped  the 
sea-weed  from  her  skin,  dressed  her  like  a  Dutch  woman, 
and  taught  her  to  spin.  It  is  not  known  how  long  she 
remained  in  her  new  condition,  but  the  legend  goes 
on  to  say  that,  however  scraped  and  clothed,  she  felt 
herself  drawn  towards  the  sea  by  a  potent  instinct,  and 
that  after  having  tried  several  times  in  vain  to  return  to  her 
native  element,  and  although  watched  by  a  hundred  eyes, 
she  one  day  succeeded  in  getting  away,  and  was  never 
heard  of  again.  Whence  came  she  ?  Whither  went  she  ? 
Who  knows  ?      The  fact  is  that  on  the  shores  of  the 


THE  ZUYDEB  ZEE.  UO 

Zuyder  Zee  everybody  knows  about  the  mnrine  woman  of 
Edam,  and  talks  of  her  to  this  day,  and  that  to  dare  to 
say,  as  some  do,  in  a  group  of  peasants,  that  tlie  woman 
must  have  been  a  seal,  is  to  be  treated  as  an  impertinent 
person;  and  I  think  that  the  peasants  are  right,  for  who 
can  pronounce  upon  a  fact  which  the^^  did  not  sec  ? 
Edam,  which  in-  the  old  time  was  a  flourishing  city  of 
more  than  twenty-five  thousand  inhabitants,  has  had 
the  same  fate  as  the  other  cities  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  and 
is  now  no  more  than  a  vilhige. 

From  Edam  to  Hoorn  the  coast  is  scarcely  visible,  and 
so  I  turned  my  attention  to  the  sea.  In  the  gulf  of 
Zuyder  Zee  may  be  seen  reflected,  as  in  a  mirror,  the 
marvellous  mobility  of  the  skies  of  Holland.  It  is  the 
youngest  of  the  seas  of  Europe,  and  it  presents  in  its 
aspect  all  the  caprice,  the  restlessness,  and  the  inexplicable 
and  unexpected  changes  of  youth.  On  that  day,  as 
almost  always,  the  sky  was  covered  with  clouds  that 
dissolved  and  gathered  again  perpetually,  so  that  in  one 
hour  there  succeeded  one  another  every  variation  of  light 
which  in  our  country  is  scarcely  seen  in  the  course  of 
a  day.  At  one  moment  the  sea  was  black  as  pitch, 
with  a  distant  edge  of  shining  wliite,  like  a  border  of 
quicksilver.  All  at  once  the  black  was  gone,  and  the 
gulf  became  covered  with  great  green  tracts,  like  patches 
of  vegetation,  the  vessels  leaving  long  blue  wakes  behind 
them,  reminding  one  of  the  meadows  and  canals  of  the 
continent.  Then  all  the  vivid  green  died  out,  and  was 
replaced  by  a  muddy  yellow  giving  to  the  sea  the  look 
of  a  vast  and  filthy  bog,  in  which  deformed   and  hideous 


350  HOLLAND. 

animals  might  wallow.  For  an  instant  the  stcc[)les  and 
windmills  on  the  shore  showed  through  the  fog  like  dis- 
tant and  almost  invisible  phantoms,  and  it  seemed  that 
at  that  point  it  was  dark  and  raining.  A  moment  more^ 
and  mills^  steeples^  and  houses  appeared  close  at  hand, 
and  gleaming  golden  in  the  sun.  Beside  the  vessel,  along 
the  shore,  in  the  midst  of  the  gulf^  light  and  shadow, 
color,  black  darkness  and  noonda}''  light,  smiling  sunshine 
and  threatening  tempest^  continually  followed  each  other, 
until  it  seemed  as  if  it  all  had  some  mysterious  meaning, 
some  signification  beyond  human  understanding,  which 
invisible  spectators  above  alone  could  explain.  Here 
and  there  glided  a  boat  with  black  sails,  looking  like  a 
floating  bier  for  the  transportation  of  the  dead. 

The  vessel  passed  within  sight  of  Hoorn,  the  ancient 
capital  of  North  Holland,  where  in  141G  the  first  great 
herring-net  was  made,  and  where  that  intrepid  Schonten 
was  born  who  was  the  first  to  go  round  the  extreme 
southern  point  of  America ;  and  then  we  turned  towards 
Enckhuysen.  On  that  part  of  the  coast  that  lies  between 
the  two  cities  there  extends  a  chain  of  villages  composed 
of  little  wooden  and  brick  houses,  with  varnished  roofs 
and  carved  doors,  before  which  stand  trees  with  painted 
trunks.  From  the  steamboat  nothing  of  these  villages 
can  be  seen  except  the  roofs,  looking  as  if  they  emerged 
from  the  Water  or  were  floating  upon  it.  The  red  color 
of  these  roofs,  a  few  steeples,  the  wings  of  windmills,  are 
the  only  colors  and  forms  which  vary  here  and  there  the 
long  thin  line  of  coast,  like  the  profile  of  a  very  slender 
isthmus.     A  little  before    reaching  Enckhuysen  is  seen 


THE  ZUYDEFi  ZEE.  351 

the  little  island  of  ITrk,  wliicli  is  believed  to  have  once 
been  a  part  of  that  of  Schoklaiidj  placed  at  a  short  dis- 
tance from  the  mouth  of  the  Yssel.  Urk  is  still  in- 
habited ;  Scliohland  was  deserted  a  few  years  ago,  its 
inhabitants  finding  it  impossible  to  contend  against  the 
sea. 

The  vessel  stopped  at  Enckhaysen. 

Enckhuysen  is  the  most  dead  of  all  the  dead  cities  of 
the  Zuyder  Zee.  In  the  sixteentli  century  it  contained 
forty  thousand  inhabitants,  sent  one  hundred  and  forty 
boats  to  the  herring  fishery,  had  a  fine  harboi';  twenty 
shii)s  of  war,  a  large  arsenal,  and  sumptuous  edifices. 
Now  the  harbor  is  choked  with  sand,  the  population 
reduced  to  five  thousand  souls;  one  of  its  ancient  gates 
is  at  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  distance  from  the  first  houses 
in  the  town,  its  streets  are  grass-grown,  its  houses  ruined 
and  abandoned,  its  people  poor  and  scattered.  The  one 
sole  glory  that  remains  to  it  is  that  of  having  been  the 
birthplace  of  Paul  Potter.  The  steamboat  stopped  a  few 
minutes  before  this  shade  of  a  dead  city.  On  the  landing- 
pier  there  were  but  one  or  two  sailors;  of  the  city 
nothing  could  be  seen  save  a  few  houses  half  hidden  by 
the  dykes,  and  one  tall  steeple,  which  at  that  moment 
was  ringing  slowly  out,  like  the  tolling  of  a  death-bell, 
the  air  from  "  William  Tell,''  0  Matilde,  t'  amo,  e  vero. 
The  shore  was  deserted,  the  port  silent,  the  hous^es  closed, 
and  a  great  black  cloud  hanging  over  the  town  seemed 
like  a  pall  slowly  descending  to  cover  it  up  for  ever. 
It  was  a  spectacle  to  excite  both  compassion  and  dread. 

Leaving  Enckhuysen,  the  steamboat  reached  in  a  few 


352  HOLLAND. 

minutes  the  entrance  to  the  Zuyder  Zee,  hetween  the 
town  of  Stavoren,  the  most  advanced  point  on  this  coast  of 
Fricsland,  and  Medemblijk,  another  decayed  city  of  North 
Holland,  which  was  the  capital  of  the  province  before  the 
foundation  of  Iloorn  and  Enckhuysen.  At  that  point  the 
gulf  is  about  half  as  wide  as  the  straits  of  Calais.  When 
the  gigantic  undertaking  for  the  draining  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee  shall  be  carried  into  effect,  it  is  at  this  point  that  the 
enormous  dyke  will  be  placed  which  is  to  keep  out  the 
North  Sea.  The  dvke  will  extend  from  Stavoren  to 
Mederablijk,  leaving  in  the  middle  a  wide  canal  for  the 
movement  of  the  tides,  and  the  flowing  off  of  the  waters 
of  the  Yssel  and  the  Vecht ;  and  behind  it,  the  great  gulf 
will  be  gradually  transformed  into  a  fertile  plain^  North 
Holland  will  be  joined  to  Friesland,  all  the  dead  cities  of 
the  coast  will  be  revived  and  animated  with  new  life, 
islands  destroyed,  manners  and  customs  changed,  dialects 
commingled^  a  province,  a  people,  a  world  created.  This 
great  work  will  cost,  according  to  the  calculations  made, 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions  of  francs ;  the 
studies  for  it  have  been  going  on  for  many  years,  and 
perhaps  it  will  soon  be  commenced ;  but  alas !  before 
it  is  completed,  we  who  were  born  towards  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  will  be  lying  with  folded  hands, 
and  the  violets  growing  over  us. 

Just  after  passing  Medemblijk,  the  steeples  of  Stavoren 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  gulf  came  into  view,  the  most 
ancient  of  the  Frisian  cities,  its  name,  as  the  etymologists 
tell  us,  derived  from  the  god  Stavo,  adored  by  the  ancient 
Frisians.     The  city,  which  is  now  no  more  than  a  small 


THE  ZUYDEB  ZEE,  353 

village  of  melancholy  appearance,  surrounded  by  great 
bastions  and  marshes,  was,  in  the  times  when  Amsterdam 
did  not  exist,  a  great,  beautiful,  and  populous  city,  the 
residence  of  the  King  of  Frisia,  and  into  it  flowed  the 
merchandise  of  the  East  and  the  West,  so  that  it  had 
gained  the  glorious  title  of  the  Nineveh  of  the  Zuyder 
Zee.  A  strange  legend — which  is,  however,  founded  upon 
a  fact,  the  choking  of  the  port  with  sand — gives  the  first 
explanation  of  its  miserable  decadence.  The  inhabitants, 
having  grown  immensely  rich  by  commerce,  had  become 
vain,  proud,  and  dissipated,  and  had  pushed  their  foolish 
ostentation  so  far  as  even  to  gild  the  railings,  the  doors, 
the  locks,  and  the  humblest  utensils  of  their  houses.  This 
was  displeasing  to  God,  who  deliberated  as  to  how  He 
should  best  inflict  a  solemn  castigation  on  the  insolent 
city,  and  soon  found  the  occasion  to  do  so.  A  rich  female 
merchant  of  Stavoren  hired  a  vessel  and  sent  it  to  Dant- 
zic  for  a  cargo  of  I  know  not  what  precious  goods.  The 
captain  of  the  vessel  arrived  at  Dantzic,  but  did  not 
succeed  in  finding  the  merchandise  which  the  female 
merchant  desired,  and  not  wishing  to  return  without  a 
cargo,  loaded  his  ship  with  grain.  When  he  came  to 
Stavoren  the  female  merchant,  who  was  waiting  for  him 
at  the  port,  asked  what  he  had  brought.  The  captain 
humblv  answered  that  he  had  brongrht  nothing:  but  srrain. 
'^  Grain ! "  cried  the  haughty  woman,  in  an  accent  of 
anger  and  contempt.  "  Throw  it  at  once  into  the  sea  ! '' 
The  captain  obeyed,  and  the  anger  of  God  burst  forth. 
At  the  very  point  where  the  grain  fell  into  the  sea,  there 
was    formed  before   the  port    a  great   sand- bank,  which 


354  HOLLAND. 

gradually  extinguish ed  tlie  commerce  of  the  city.  The 
sand-bank  is  there  to  this  day^  and  is  called  Vrouwen- 
sand,  or  the  Woman's  Sand -bank;,  and  is  such  an  im- 
pediment that  the  smallest  trading-vessels  have  to  steer 
with  great  caution,  in  order  not  to  run  upon  it ;  nor  did 
a  great  mole,  which  was  constructed  to  remedy  this  evil, 
in  any  way  change  the  fate  of  the  condemned  city. 

The  sun  was  setting  when  the  steamboat  left  Stavoren, 
but,  in  spite  of  the  hour  and  the  season,  the  weather  was 
so  mild  that  I  was  able  to  dine  on  deck,  and,  inspired 
by  the  grand  idea  of  the  draining  of  the  Zuyder  Zee,  drain 
to  its  last  drop  a  bottle  of  old  Bordeaux  wine,  without 
having  to  blow  upon  the  ends  of  my  fingers.  The  pas- 
sengers were  all  below,  the  sea  perfectly  calm,  the  sky  all 
golden,  the  wine  exquisite,  and  my  soul  at  peace.  Mean- 
time, before  me  lay  spread  out  the  coast  of  Friesland, 
defended  by  two  rows  of  piles,  sustained  by  enormous 
blocks  of  German  and  Norwegian  granite  and  basalt, 
giving  to  the  country  the  look  of  a  vast  entrenched  camp. 
We  passed  near  Hindelopen,  another  decayed  city,  which 
has  about  a  thousand  inhabitants  who  still  wear  the 
absurd  costume  of  centuries  ago ;  we  skirted  a  series  of 
small  hidden  villages  which  gave  token  of  their  presence 
by  raising  above  their  dykes  the  iron  finger  of  their 
steeples,  and  arrived  at  last  at  Harlingen — the  second 
capital  of  Friesland — still  illuminated  by  the  last  rays  of 
the  setting  sun. 


X^^        ()¥  THE  '  " 

'university' 
friesland. 


As  the  boat  approached  tlie  pier,  I  remembered  what  had 
liappened  to  me  at  Alkmaar,  and  was  troubled  at  the 
thought  that  I  had  brought  no  letters  of  introduction  for 
Harlingen.  I  had  reason  to  be  troubled,  since  the  Frisian 
language,  which  is  a  mixture  of  Dutch,  Danish,  and  old 
Saxon,  is  almost  incomprehensible  to  the  Hollanders 
themselves  ;  and,  as  for  me,  I  did  not  know  the  first  word 
of  it.  I  was  also  aware  that  French  was  scarcely  spoken 
at  all  in  Friesland.  I  prepared  myself,  therefore,  with 
melancholy  resignation,  to  gesticulate,  to  set  people  laugh- 
ing, and  to  be  led  about  like  a  child,  and  I  began  to  look 
about  among  the  crowd  of  boys  and  porters  on  the  pier 
for  some  face  more  humane  than  the  others,  to  wliich  T 
might  confide  my  luggage  and  my  life. 

Before  I  had  found  the  face  the  boat  had  stopped,  and 
I  landed.  Whilst  I  stood  hesitating  between  two  sturdy 
Frieslanders  who  wished  to  take  possession  of  my  person 
and  effects,  I  heard    whispered  in  my  ear    a  word  that 


856  HOLLAND. 

made  my  heart  jump — my  own  name !  I  turned  as  if 
summoned  by  a  voice  from  the  other  world,  and  saw  a 
young  gentleman,  who,  smiling  at  my  astonishment,  re- 
peated in  French,  ^^  Are  you  Monsieur  So-and-so?'' 
"1  am/''  I  answered,  ^^  or,  at  least,  I  think  I  am,  for,  to 
speak  truth,  T  am  so  amazed  at  being  recognised  by  yon 
that  I  almost  doubt  my  own  identity.  What  prodigy  is 
this?'*  The  prodigy  was  very  simple.  A  friend  at  Am- 
sterdam w^ho  had  accompanied  me  on  board  in  the  morn- 
ing, had  sent  a  despatch,  immediately  after  the  boat  left, 
to  an  acquaintance  of  his  at  Harlingen,  asking  him  to 
go  down  to  the  evening  boat  and  meet  a  tall,  dark  stranger 
in  coffee- colored  overcoat,  who  would  be  in  great  need  of 
an  interpreter  and  companion.  All  my  travelling  com- 
panions being  blende,  the  friend  of  my  friend  had 
recognised  me  at  once,  and  had  come  to  my  rescue. 

If  I  had  had  in  my  pocket  the  collar  of  the  order  of  the 
Annunziata,  I  should  have  at  once  bestowed  it  upon  him. 
Not  having  it,  I  expiessed  my  gratitude  in  a  flood  of 
words,  at  which  he  was  much  astonished,  and  we  went 
into  the  town,  where  1  purposed  to  remain  only  a  few 
hours. 

Great  canals  full  of  vessels,  broad  streets  bordered  bv 
rows  of  small,  neat,  many-colored  houses,  very  few  people 
out  of  doors,  a  profound  silence,  and  a  nameless  air  of 
melancholy  tranquillity — such  is  Harlingen,  a  city  of 
about  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  founded  near  the  site  of  a 
village  which  was  destroyed  by  the  sea  in  1134.  Having 
taken  a  turn  about  the  town,  my  companion  took  me  to 
see  the  dykes,  without  which  the  place  must  have  been 


FRIESLAND.  357 

a  bundrcd  times  submerged,  since  the  whole  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  coast  is  exposed  to  the  waves  and  currents  of 
the  opeu  sea.  The  dykes  are  formed  of  two  rows  of 
immense  piles,  joined  together  by  transverse  beams 
of  great  size,  and  the  whole  set  with  monstrous  flat- 
headed  nails  as  a  defence  against  the  small  marine  in- 
sects which  destroy  the  wood.  Between  these  piles  there 
are  stout  planks,  or,  rather,  great  beams  sawed  in  two 
and  set  deep  in  the  sand,  one  beside  the  other;  behind 
these  a  wall  of  Cyclopean  masses  of  red  grauite  brought 
from  the  province  of  the  Drenta ,  and  behind  this  wall 
another  row  of  stout  piles,  which  alone  would  suffice  to 
restrain  the  waters  of  a  furious  torrent.  Upon  this  dyke 
extends  a  shady  avenue  of  trees  which  serves  as  a  public 
promenade,  from  which  the  sea  can  be  seen,  and  a  few 
houses  with  masts  of  .vessels  rising  from  among  them. 
When  we  were  there  the  horizon  was  still  golden  in  the 
west,  and  very  dark  in  the  opposite  quarter ;  there  was  no 
boat  on  the  sea,  and  no  movement  in  the  port ;  some 
boys  passed  us,  arm  in  arm,  chattering  and  laughing; 
one  turned  back  to  look  at  us,  and  t  ion  disappeared;  the 
moon  came  out  of  a  cloud ;  a  cold  wind  blew,  and  we 
walked  on  in  silence. 

"Are  you  in  low  spirits?^'  asked  my  companion. 
*'  Precisely,'^  I  replied.  And  I  was  so.  Why,  I  cannot 
tell.  The  place  and  the  moment  remain  impressed  on  my 
memory.  I  have  only  to  shut  my  eyes,  and  I  see  it,  and 
smell  the  salt  odor  of  the  sea. 

My  companion  took  me  to  a  club,  where  we  occupied 
ourselves  in  finding  out   at   what  hour  tiie  train  left  for 


358  HOLLAND. 

Leuwarde,    the  capital  of  Friesland.     He  was  tlie  first 
Frieslander  to  whom   I  had  had  the  honor  of  speaking, 
and  I  studied   him.     He  was  blonde,  erect,   grave,  like 
almost  all  Dutchmen;  but  he  had  a  singularly  animated 
expression  in  his  eyes ;   he  spoke  little,  but  what  he  did 
say    was  delivered  with  a  rapidity  and   emphasis   which 
indicated  a   more  vivacious  disposition  than  that  of  his 
fellow-citizens  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Zuyder  Zee. 
Our  conversation  fell  upon  ancient  Frisia  and  Rome,  and 
was  most  agreeable,  for  he  spoke  of  the  events  of  antique 
times  with  extraordinary  seriousness,  as  of  things  that  had 
happened  the  other   day,  and  I    following  his  lead,  we 
talked  as  if  he  had  been  a  Frisian  of  the  days  of  Oleu- 
nius,  and   I  a  Roman  of  the  time  of  Tiberius,  each  ad- 
vocating his  own  country.      I  reproached  him  with  the 
Roman  'soldiers  crucified,  and  he  answered  placidly  that 
we  had  been  the  provokers,  since  as  long  as  we  were  con- 
tent with  the  tribute  imposed  by  Drusus,  consisting  as  it 
did  of  raw  hides  only,  it  had  not  been  refused ;   and  that 
if  they  rebelled  later  it  was  because  we  were  no  longer 
satisfied  with  hides,  but  wanted   cattle,  fields^  boys,  and 
women ;  and  that  was  destruction  for  them.     "  Pacem,^^ 
says  Tacitus,  ''  esuere,  nostra  magis  avaritia  quam  obse- 
(juii  wipatientes/'  and  adds  that  Drusus  had  imposed  a 
small   tribute   because  they  were    poor,    ''pro  angustia 
rerum.'^    And  if  we  were  to  take  cattle  and  lands  from  the 
poor,  what  would  we  take  from  the  rich  ?     When  1  heard 
him  quote  Tacitus  from  memory,  I  beat  a  retreat,  and 
asked  him  amicably  if  he  felt    any  rancor  towards   me 
because  of  the  power  of  my  forefathers.     "  Oh^  Sir  I  '■*  he 


FBIESLAND.  359 

answered,  giving  me  his  "hand,  as  if  I  had  spoken  seriously, 
"  not  a  shadow/'  "  Either  I  am  much  mistaken/' 
thouglit  Ij  "  or  in  my  own  country  I  could  not  find  a 
vestige  of  such  ingenuousness/'  And  I  could  not  but 
look  at  him  in  wonder,  of  so  different  a  stamp  did  he 
seem  from  the  men  I  was  accustomed  to  meet. 

We  remained  together  until  niglit,  when  he  accom- 
panied me  to  the  railway  station,  and  was  then  going  to 
a  concert.  In  that  little  town  of  sailors,  butter-merchants, 
and  fishermen,  there  was  a  concert  given  by  four  artists, 
two  Italians  and  two  Germans,  who  had  come  from  the 
Hague  expressly  to  play  for  two  hours  for  the  sura  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  florins  !  Where  this  concert  was  to 
take  place,  in  a  town  like  Harliiigen,  composed  of  lilli- 
putian  houses,  I  coukl  not  make  out,  unless  the  musicians 
were  to  play  in  a  house  and  the  audience  to  assemble  ia 
the  street. 

Friesland  is  one  plain ;  a  mixed  soil  of  sand,  clay,  and 
peat ;  low  everywhere,  especially  towards  the  west,  where 
at  the  end  of  autumn  it  is  not  rare  for  the  sea  to  rise 
and  cover  large  tracts.  There  are  many  lakes,  which 
form  a  chain  across  tlie  province  from  Stavoren  to  Dok- 
kum.  The  country  is  covered  with  immense  meadows, 
and  traversed  in  all  directions  by  broad  canals,  along 
which  for  nine  months  in  the  year  pasture  immense  herds 
of  cattle,  unguarded  by  herdsman  or  dog.  Along  the 
shore  of  the  North  Sea  there  are  found  little  mounds  of 
earth  called  terpen,  raised  by  the  ancient  inhabitants  as 
refuges  for  themselves  and  their  herds  against  the  rising 
tides,  and  on  some  of  these  mounds  there  are  villages. 


360  HOLLAND. 

Other  villages  and  towns  are  built  upon  piles,  on  land 
gradually  conquered  from  the  sea.  The  province  has  two 
hundred  and  seventy-two  thousand  inhabitants,  who  gain 
not  only  their  living,  but  wealthy  from  the  trade  in  butter, 
cheese,  fish^  and  peat,  and  communication  is  made  easy 
by  the  canals  and  lakes.  A  few  trees  which  hide  the 
farm-houses  and  villages  ;  some  sails  of  vessels ;  flocks  of 
lapwings,  crows,  and  rooks  ;  and  the  beautiful  herds  of 
cattle  dotting  the  green  fields  with  black  and  white,  are 
the  only  objects  which  attract  the  eye  upon  that  vast 
plain,  whose  confines  are  perpetually  concealed  by  a  white 
vaporish  veil.  Man,  who  in  that  country  has  done  all, 
appears  nowhere,  and  water  alone  seems  the  active  living 
principle,  while  the  land  is  possessed  by  the  animals. 

I  reached  Leuwarde  late  in  the  night,  and  was  for- 
tunate enough  to  find  an  inn  where  French  was  spoken. 
Very  early  in  the  morning — I  do  not  think  there  were  a 
hundred  persons  a-foot  in  the  town — I  was  out  wandering 
about  the  deserted  streets,  under  a  slow  cold  rain  that 
wetted  me  to  the  bone. 

Leuwarde  looks  like  a  big  village.  The  streets  are 
spacious,  with  the  usual  canals  and  small  many-colored 
houses.  The  interior  canals  join  those  of  the  exterior, 
which  extend  along  the  bastions  of  the  city  and  in  their 
turn  join  other  canals  leading  to  other  towns  and  villages. 
Leuwarde  has  an  air  of  antiquity,  a  primitive  look^  as  if 
it  were  founded  by  a  people  of  fishermen  and  herdsmen, 
and  gradually  restored,  refined,  and  beautified.  But  not- 
withstanding its  fine  bridges,  rich  shops,  and  ornamente 
windows,  its  general  aspect  is  strange  and  foreign,  and  it 


FEIESLAND.  361 

seems  strange  to  see  the  inhabitants  wearing  overcoats 
and  cylindrical  hats  like  other  people.  The  streets  were 
deserted,  every  door  closed;  I  felt  as  if  I  were  wandering 
iu  an  unknown  or  abandoned  place  which  I  had  myself 
discovered.  I  looked  at  the  queer  little  houses^  and 
thought  with  amazement  that  within  them  there  were 
doubtless  well-dressed  ladicsj  pianos,  books  that  I  had 
I'cad;  maps  of  Italy,  and  photogiaphs  of  Ptome  and 
Florence.  As  I  went  from  street  to  street,  I  passed  the 
ancient  castle  of  the  Governors  of  Fricsland,  of  the 
house  of  Nassau  Dicz,  the  ancestors  of  the  reigning  family 
of  Orange.  I  discovered  a  very  curious  prison,  a  white 
and  pink  palace,  surmounted  by  a  lofty  roof,  and  de- 
corated with  columns  and  statues,  giving  it  the  aspect  of 
some  princely  villa;  and  I  finally  came  out  into  a  great 
square,  where  I  saw  an  old  brick  tower,  which  is  now  ten 
miles  from  the  coast,  but  which,  five  hundred  years  ago, 
bathed  its  base  in  the  waters  of  the  sea.  From  here, 
passing  through  streets  as  clean  as  drawing-rooms,  and 
sheltered  by  my  umbrella  from  the  droppings  of  the  eaves, 
I  returned  to  the  centre  of  the  city. 

In  all  my  walk  I  had  seen  no  women  beyond 
skinny  old  hag  looking  out  of  window  at  the  weather ;  and 
it  may  be  imagined  how  curious  I  was  to  see  others, 
not  so  much  for  their  celebrated  beauty  as  because  of 
the  strange  covering  which  they  wear  on  their  heads,  and 
of  which  I  had  read  descriptions  and  seen  pictures  in 
every  town  of  Holland.  The  evening  before,  on  my 
arrival,  I  had  caught  one  glimpse,  at  a  corner,  of  a  group 
of  women^'s  heads  strangely  shining  and  glittering,  but  it 


S62  HOLLAND. 

was  for  a  moment  only,  and  in  the  dark.  It  must  be 
quite  another  thing  to  see  all  the  fair  sex  of  the  capital 
of  Fricsland  in  full  daylight  and  as  long  as  I  pleased. 
But  how  to  gratify  this  curiosity  ?  The  skies  promised  rain 
for  the  entire  day,  the  women  would  probably  remain 
shut  up  in  their  houses,  and  I  should  be  devoured  with 
impatience.  P'ortunately  there  came  into  my  head  one 
of  those  luminous  ideas  which  are  sometimes  vouchsafed 
to  the  dullest  brain.  Seeing  a  musician  of  the  Civic 
Guard  pass  by,  with  plumed  hat_,  and  trombone  under  his 
arm,  I  remembered  that  it  was  the  birthday  of  the  King 
of  Holland,  and  that  this  band  of  music  would  probably 
march  through  the  city,  when,  if  I  were  to  accompany  it 
on  its  rounds,  I  might  see  the  ladies  come  to  their  win- 
dows as  it  passed.  ''  Bravo  ! ''  said  I  to  myself,  and  hum- 
ming Figaro^s  air,  *' Che  invenzione  prelibata/'  I  fol- 
lowed the  musician  to  the  great  square,  where  the  Civic 
Guard  were  intrepidly  gathering  under  a  heavy  rain  and 
in  presence  of  about  a  hundred  lookers-on.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  battalion  was  formed,  the  major  gave  a 
loud  shout,  the  band  burst  into  music,  the  column 
moved  out  of  the  square,  and  I  marched  beside  the  drum- 
major,  delighted. 

The  windows  of  the  first  houses  were  opened,  and  a 
few  women  appeared  at  them,  with  heads  glittering  as  if 
with  helmets ;  and  they  did  in  fact  wear  two  broad  plates 
of  silver,  concealing  the  hair  and  a  part  of  the  forehead, 
and  looking  like  the  casque  of  an  ancient  warrior.  As 
we  went  on,  others  appeared,  some  with  silver,  some  with 
golden  helmets.     The    battalion  turned  into  one  of  the 


Frielsand  and  Zealand.       Types  and  Costumes.      {Page  363.) 


FBIESLAND.  363 

principal  streets,  and  then  at    every  door   and   window, 
in  the  corners,  in  the  sliops,  and  leaning  over  the  garden 
gates,   appeared   casques  of    gold    and   silver,   great   and 
small,  with  veils  or  without,  bright  and  glittering ;  mammas 
with  their  little  girls  about  them,  all  in  helmets;  tottering 
old  women,  servant-maids   with  saucepan  in  hand,  young 
ladies,  all  in  the  same  warlike  head-gear:  Leuwarde  seemed 
a  great  barrack  full  of  beardless  cuirassiers,  a  metropolis 
of  dethroned  queens,  a  place  where  the  entire  populatioti 
had   turned  out   for  a  mediceval  masquerade.     I   cannot 
describe  my  astonishment  and  pleasure  at  the  sight.     The 
shining  helmets  threw  gold  and  silver  reflections  on  the 
window-panes  and  on  the  varnished  doors,  shone  dimly  in 
the  darkness  of  the  ground-floor  rooms,  and  darted  light- 
ning rays  through  the   transparent  curtains   and  flowere 
in  the  windows.     As  "we  passed  I  could  see  reflected  in 
the  casques  of  the   girls  upon  the  side-walks  the  trees, 
the   shop-w^indows,  the    sky,  the    Civic    Guard,  my  own 
figure  with   its  ugly   and    dark  attire.     At  every  step  I 
saw  something  odd.     A  boy,  to  teaze  a  little  girl,  breathes 
upon  her  helmet,  and  the  latter  angrily  scolds  at  him,  and 
repolishes  it  with  her  sleeve,  like  a  soldier  whose  accou- 
trements have  been  soiled  by  a   companion  just  before  a 
review.     A  young  man  at  a  window  touches  with  the  end 
of  a  stick  the  casque  of  a  young  lady  at  the  next  window,, 
making  it  resound,  and  people  turn  to  look,  w^hile  the 
lady  blushes  and  retires.     Within  a  doorway  a   servant- 
maid  arranges  her  own  casque,   using  that  of  a  friend, 
who   bends  prettily  before  her,   as    a  looking-glass.     In 
the  vestibule  of  a  house  that  must  be  a  school,  about  fifty 


364  HOLLAND. 

little  girls_,  all  in  casques^  range  themselves  silently  two 
and  two,  like  a  regiment  of  small  warriors  making  ready 
for  a  sortie. 

From  the  beginning  I  had  been  so  absorbed  in  the 
contemplation  of  the  helmets,  that  I  had  paid  no  atten- 
tion to  the  faces  of  the  lovely  Frieslanders^  who  have 
the  reputation  of  being  the  handsomest  women  in  the 
Low  Countries,,  descending  in  a  direct  line  from  the 
sirens  of  the  North  Sea.  It  is  also  said  that  they  dis- 
turbed the  equanimity  of  the  Grand  Chancellor  of  the 
German  Empire,  who  is  not  very  excitable  by  nature. 
Recovered  from  my  first  amazement  at  the  casques,  I  con- 
sidered the  persons  of  the  ladies  themselves,  and  am 
constrained  to  say  that  I  saw,  as  is  the  case  in  other  coun- 
tries, but  very  few  who  were  really  beautiful,  and  those  few 
worthy  of  their  fame.  They  are  in  general  of  tall  stature, 
with  broad  shoulders ;  fair,  white,  straight  as  palms,  and 
grave  as  antique  priestesses ;  some  with  very  small  hands 
and  feet ;  and  despite  their  gravity,  they  have  a  soft,  smil- 
ing expression,  that  seems  a  distant  reflection  from  their 
fallen  ancestresses.  The  silver  helmet,  which,  concealing 
the  hair,  deprives  them  of  one  of  beauty's  best  ornaments, 
in  part  makes  up  for  this  defect  by  displaying  the  noble 
form  of  the  head,  and  gives  to  tlie  face  certain  white 
and  azure  gleams  of  indescribable  delicacy.  To  all  ap- 
pearance they  have  not  a  shadow  of  coquetry. 

I  was  very  curious  to  have  a  close  view  of  these  helmeted 
heads,  and  to  know  how  the  casque  was  made,  and  how 
put  on.  For  this  end  I  had  brought  a  letter  to  a 
family  in  Leuwarde,   which  I  proceeded  to  deliver,  and 


FRIESLANB.  365 

was  courteously  received  in  a  pretty  little  house  on  tne 
border  of  the  caiml.  We  had  hardly  exchan;^cd  the 
first  compliments  when  I  asked  to  see  a  casque,  at 
which  my  hosts  began  to  laugh^  and  declared  tliat  \t 
was  the  first  demand  made  by  all  strangers  arriving 
there.  Then  the  lady  of  the  house  rang  a  bell,  and 
there  appeared  a  servant-maid  wearing  a  lilac  gown  and 
a  golden  helmet,  who  at  a  sign  from  her  mistress  came 
forward.  She  was  as  tall  as  a  grenadier,  robust  as  an 
athlete,  white  as  an  angel,  haughty  as  a  princess. 
Planting  herself  before  me,  she  stocd  with  head  erect 
and  eyes  cast  down.  Her  mistress  told  me  that  her 
name  M^as  Sophia,  that  she  was  eighteen  years  old,  and 
was  engaged  to  be  married,  her  casque  being  a  present 
from  her  betrothed. 

I  asked  what  metal  it  was  made  of. 

"  Of  gold,^^  the  lady  answered,  with  a  slight  expression 
of  surprise  at  the  question. 

"  Of  gold  !  "  I  exclaimed.  "  Excuse  me ;  but  will  you 
have  the  goodness  to  ask  her  how  much  it  cost  ?" 

The  lady  questioned  the  maid,  and  then  turning  to 
me,  said  :  '^  It  cost,  without  the  chain  and  pins,  three 
hundred  florins.^'' 

''  Six  hundred  francs !  "  cried  I.  "  Excuse  me  once 
more  ;  what  is  the  young  man's  profession  ? '' 

"  He  is  a  wood-sawyer,''  answered  the  lady. 

^' A  wood-sawyer !  ■''  I  repeated;  and  thought  regret- 
fully of  the  size  of  the  book  that  I  should  have  to  write 
before  I  could  rival  the  magnificence  of  this  wood-sawyer. 

"Thev  do  not   all  have  them   of  gold,  however,*'  said 


0G6  HOLLAND. 

the  lady ;  *'  the  lover  who  has  little  money  gives  a  silver 
casque.  Poor  women  and  girls  wear  casques  of  gilded 
copper^  or  very  thin  silver,  which  cost  a  few  florins.  Eut 
the  great  ambition  is  to  have  one  of  gold,  and  with  this 
purpose  in  view,  they  work,  and  save,  and  sigh  for 
years  together.  And  as  for  jealousy,  I,  who  have  a 
maid  with  a  gold  casque,  and  a  housemaid  with  a  silver 
one,  can  tell  something  about  that.'' 

I  asked  if  ladies  also  wore  the  casque.  She  answered 
that  very  few  wore  it  now ;  but  that  all,  even  the  first 
families,  remembered  having  seen  their  mothers  and 
grandmothers  wearing  them;  and  they  were  chased  and 
set  with  diamonds,  costing  very  large  sums.  In  ancient 
times,  however,  the  casque  was  not  worn,  but  only  a 
sort  of  diadem  made  of  very  thin  silver,  or  iron,  without 
ornament,  which,  little  by  little,  was  enlarged,  and  as- 
sumed its  present  form.  At  present,  like  all  fashions 
that  have  become  exaggerated,  the  casque  is  beginning 
to  pass  away.  The  women  begin  to  think  that  they 
would  like  to  show  their  beautiful  fair  hair.  Also  the 
casque  produces  baldness,  and  many  women  who  are  still 
young  have  bald  places  on  their  heads.  The  physicians, 
on  their  side,  declare  that  the  constant  pressure  upon  the 
head  arrests  the  development  of  the  bosom ;  which  is  not 
difficult  of  belief,  since,  in  fact,  the  Friesland  women, 
robust  and  round  in  flesh  as  they  are,  are  flat  there, 
where  there  should  be  a  bold  curve.  All  these  reasons 
have  induced  many  ladies  of  the  province  of  Groningen, 
where  the  same  fashion  exists,  to  form  a  sort  of  league 
against  the  casque,  and  discontinue  the   use  of  it  them- 


FEIESLAND.  367 

selves.  It  will^  however^  be  many  years  before  it  entirely 
disappears,  the  women  of  the  lower  and  middle  classes 
still  clinging  to  it. 

I  wished  to  see  Sophia's  casque,  but  it  was  covered  by 
the  usual  lace  veil,  and  I  did  not  like  to  ask  her  to  re- 
move it.  I  took  hold  of  the  edge  of  the  veil,  however^  and 
explaining  my  words  by  gesture,  asked  iP  I  might  raise  it. 

^'  Lift  it,  certainly,^'  said  her  mistress. 

I  did  so.  Heavens  !  what  whiteness  I  I  compared  tlie 
neck  with  the  veil,  and  could  not  tell  to  which  the  palm 
should  be  given.  Sophia^s  casque  was  quite  different 
from  the  silver  ones  which  I  had  seen  in  the  streets; 
indeed,  the  name  of  casque  or  helmet  is  only  applicable 
to  the  gold  ones.  The  silver  ones  are  made  of  two  almost 
circular  plates,  joined  by  a  flexible  ring  of  metal  which 
encircles  the  head,  and  is  ornamented  with  two  chased 
buttons  that  stand  out  at  the  temples.  These  two  plates 
only  cover  the  front  part  of  the  head.  The  gold  casques, 
on  the  contrary,  are  one  large  circle  enclosing  the  head, 
except  at  the  crown,  and  leaving  only  a  small  part  of  the 
forehead  visible.  The  lamina  are  fine  and  flexible  as 
Bristol  board,  so  that  they  can  be  easily  adapted  to  any 
head.  Under  the  casque  they  wear  a  black  silk  cap  that 
covers  the  hair  like  a  night-cap,  and  over  it  a  sort  of 
veil  of  lace  that  falls  over  the  shoulders.  Upon  the  top 
of  this  some  of  the  women  put  an  indescribable  little  hat 
ornamented  with  flowers  and  fruit.  The  veil  and  hat, 
however,  are  only  assumed  on  full-dress  occasions. 

My  hostess  told  me  of  some  singular  customs  still  in 
use  among  the  peasants  of  Friesland.      When  a  youii 


ir 

a 


368  HOLLAND. 

TYian  presents  himself  to  ask  the  hand  of  a  girl  in  mar- 
riagCj  she  makes  him  understand  at  once  whether  or  no 
he  is  accepted.  If  she  accepts  him  she  leaves  the  room, 
and  returns  immediately  wearing  her  casque.  If  she  does 
not  do  this,  it  is  understood  that  he  does  not  please  her, 
and  that  she  refuses  to  become  his  queen.  Betrothed 
lovers  present  their  brides  with  a  pair  of  garters,  on  which 
sentences  of  love  or  good  wishes  are  embroidered.  Some- 
times the  lover  presents  his  lady  with  a  handkerchief 
knotted  up  with  money  or  trinkets  inside,  and  an  in- 
scription on  the  knot.  If  the  lady  unties  the  knot,  it  is 
a  sign  of  acceptance ;  if  she  does  not,  the  contrary  is  the 
case.  The  highest  honor  hoped  for  by  a  lover  is  to  be 
pc^rmitted  to  fasten  his  lady^s  shoe  or  patten  on  her  foot, 
when  she  rewards  him  with  a  kiss.  For  the  rest,  young 
men  and  maidens  enjoy  the  most  entire  liberty.  They 
walk  together  like  husband  and  wife,  and  often  remain 
for  hours  alone  at  night,  when  the  parents  have  gone  to 
bed.  "  And  do  they  never  have  to  repent  at  leisure  what 
Las  been  done  in  haste  ?^'  I  inquired.  "The  fault," 
replied  my  informant,  '^  is  always  repaired/' 

During  the  whole  of  this  conversation  the  handsome 
maid  had  remained,  grave  and  silent  as  a  statue.  Before  she 
went  away  I,  to  thank  her  with  a  compliment,  begged  her 
mistress  to  tell  her  for  me  that  she  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  the  warrior  women  of  Friesland.  She  lis- 
tened with  a  serious  face,  and  blushed  to  the  roots  of  her 
hair  ;  then,  as  if  she  had  thouglit  better  of  it,  she  smiled 
slightly,  and,  with  a  half-curtsey,  went  out  of  the  room, 
with  the  slow,  majestic  step  of  a  tragedy  queen. 


FBIESLAND,  369 

Thanks  to  the  kindness  of  my  hosts,  I  was  enabled  to 
see  a  small 'Oluseum  of  National  Antiquities  of  Fries- 
land,"  but  lately  formed,  and  already  rieh  in  many 
precious  objeets.  With  my  small  knowledge  of  such 
matters,  I  gave  but  a  hasty  glance  at  the  coins  and 
medals,  and  stayed  long  before  the  collection  of  ancient 
skates,  rusty  diadems  from  which  the  casque  is  derived, 
and  certain  strange-looking  pipes  found  at  a  great  depth 
under  the  ground,  which  appear  to  be  anterior  to  the  time 
of  tobacco,  and  are  believed  to  have  been  used  in  smoking 
hemp.  But  the  oddest  thing  in  the  museum  is  a  woman's 
hat,  which  was  in  use  towards  the  end  of  the  last  cen- 
tury ;  such  a  ridiculous  and  utterly  absurd  hat,  that  if 
the  antiquary  who  showed  it  to  me  had  not  assured  me 
that  he  had  seen,  with  his  own  eyes,  one  similar  to  it  on 
the  head  of  an  old  lady  of  Leuwarde,  not  many  years  ago, 
on  the  occasion  of  a  festival  for  the  arrival  of  the  King 
of  Holland,  I  could  not  have  believed  it  possible  that 
reasonable  creatures  could  ever  have  crowned  themselves 
with  such  things.  It  is  not  a  hat,  it  is  a  tent,  a  canopy,  a 
roof,  under  which  an  entire  family  could  be  sheltered 
from  the  rain  and  sun.  It  is  composed  of  a  circular 
piece  of  wood  twice  as  large  as  an  ordinary  coffee-table, 
and  a  straw  hat  with  a  brim  of  the  same  dimensions, 
wanting  on  one  side,  so  that  it  has  a  semicircular  form. 
The  circular  piece  of  wood  is  ornamented  with  a  deep 
fringe,  and  has  a  small  opening  in  whjch  the  head  is  in- 
serted, and  is  fastened  in  some  wav  unknown  to  me. 
When  this  is  done,  the  straw  hat,  which  is  separate,  is 
put    on,   and    stretched   over  it,  like  an   awning  over  a 


370  HOLLAND, 

booth,  and    the    edifice  is  complete.     When  the  wearer 
entered  a  churchy  she  unroofed  herself,  so  to  speak,   in 
order  not  to  take  up  too  much  space,  and  put  it  on  again 
on    coming  out,  an    operation  which  was  thought  very 
convenient    and   the    hat   itself   extremely   elegant.     So 
true  is  the  proverb  that  there  is  no  accounting  for  tastes. 
A  courteous  Friesland  gentleman,  to  whom  I  had  been 
recommended  by  a  friend  at  the  Hague,  took  me  into  the 
country  to  see  the  peasants'  houses.     We  went  from  Leu- 
warde  towards  the  town  of  Freek,  crossing  one  of  the 
most  fertile  parts  of  Friesland,  by  a  fine  road  paved  with 
bricks,  and  as   clean  as   a  Parisian  boulevard.     Arriving 
after  a  short    walk  in  front  of   a  house,  my  companion 
stopped  and  said  with  gravity,  ^^  Behold  the  friesche  hlem 
of  the  Friesland   peasant,  the  old  farm-house  of  his  an- 
cestors.^'     It  was   a  brick  house  with  green  blinds  and 
white  curtains,  surrounded  by  trees,  and  planted  in   the 
midst  of  a  small  garden,  which  was  encircled  by  a  deep 
trench  full  of  water.     Next  the  house  stood  a  barn,  made 
of  immense  beams  of  Norway  pine,  and  covered  by  a  roof 
woven  of  canes ;  and  in  the  barn  was  the  cow-house,  shut 
in  by  a  stout  wooden  partition.     The  cows,  like  those  of 
North  Holland,  have  no  litter,  and   are  tied  in  couples, 
with  their  tails  fastened  up  to  the  beams  above,  so  that 
they  shall  not  soil  themselves.     Behind  them  runs  a  deep 
stream  of  water   which   carries   off  all  impurities.     The 
floors,  the  walls,  the  animals  themselves  are  as  clean  as 
possible   and    have  no  unpleasant   smell.     Whilst  I  ex- 
aaimed   this  animal    drawing-room,  my  companion,  who 
was  a  learned  agriculturist,  gave  me   much  precious  in- 


FllIESLAND.  371 

formation  with  regard  to  tlic  Friesland  mctliod  of  farming. 
A  farm  of  thirty  to  thirty-five  hectares  (two  and  a  half 
acres  eacli)_,  usually  has  one  horse  and  seventy  beef  cattle. 
There  is  a  milch  cow  for  every  hectare^  and  on  almost  all 
the  farms  eight  or  ten  large  sheop^  with  whose  milk  they 
make  certain  small  cheeses  which  are  esteemed  as  a  great 
delicacy  all  over  Friesland.  The  principal  product^  how- 
ever, is  not  cheese;  but  butter.  The  room  where  the 
butter  is  made  is  the  second  chamber  of  all  peasants* 
hoi.ses.  We  entered,  and  it  was  no  small  concession  that 
we  were  allowed  to  do  so_,  because  the  profane  are  usually 
stopped  on  the  threshold.  It  was  a  room  as  clean  as  a 
temple  and  cool  as  a  grotto^  where  we  saw  many  rows  of 
copper  vessels  filled  to  the  brim  with  milk  already  covered 
with  thick  cream.  The  churn  was  put  in  motion  by  a 
horse,  as  is  the  custom  almost  everywhere  in  Friesland. 
A  thermometer  hung  on  the  wall,  the  windows  were 
adorned  with  curtains,  and  a  pot  of  hyacinths  bloomed 
on  the  sill  of  one.  This  Friesland  butter  is  so  exquisite, 
my  companion  told  me,  that  in  the  markets  of  London  it 
is  sold  in  great  quantities,  and  brings  a  large  price. 
Every  year  in  the  different  markets  of  the  province  from 
seven  to  eight  millions  of  kilogrammes  are  collected. 
The  butter  is  packed  in  little  barrels  made  of  Russian 
oak,  and  holding  from  twenty  to  forty  kilogrammes  each, 
which  are  transported  to  the  municipal  weighing-place  of 
the  different  towns.  Here  an  expert  examines,  tastes, 
weighs  it,  and  stamps  it  with  the  city  arms ;  after  which 
it  is  carried  to  Harlingen,  and  put  on  board  a  steamer 
which  takes  it  to  London.     ^^  These  are  our  riches,"  cou- 


372  HOLLAND, 

eluded  the  conrteous  Frieslandcr,  '^  with  which  we  ooti- 
sole  ourselves  for  the  lack  of  the  oranges  and  palms 
which  you  favorites  of  nature  enjoy/'  He  ended  by 
telling  me  the  anecdote  of  the  Spanish  general  who  one 
day  showed  an  orange  to  a  Friesland  peasant,  and  said 
with  pride,  "This  is  a  fruit  which  my  country  produces 
twice  a  year  !  '^  "  And  this,'^  said  the  peasant,  putting  a 
pound  of  butter  under  his  nose,  "is  a  fruit  which  my 
country  produces  twice  a  day  ! '' 

The  peasant  who  accompanied  us  allowed  ns  to  peep 
into  a  room  where  his  wife  and  daughter  were  seated  at 
work  one  on  each  side  of  a  table,  one  wearing  a  gold  casque 
and  the  other  a  silver  one.  It  seemed  a  room  expressly 
arranged  for  a  stranger  to  see.  There  were  great  presses 
of  antique  form,  mirrors  in  gilded  frames,  Chinese  porce- 
lain, carved  flower-vases,  and  silver  vessels  standing  on 
shelves.  "And  you  see  the  smallest  part  of  it,'^  whis- 
pered my  companion,  observing  my  astonishment. 
"  Those  presses  are  full  of  linen,  jewellery,  and  silk 
gowns,  and  there  are  some  peasants  who  have  cups, 
plates,  and  coffee-pots  of  silver;  there  are  even  some  who 
have  forks  and  spoons  and  tobacco-boxes  of  massive  gold. 
They  gain  much,  live  very  economically,  and  spend  their 
savings  in  articles  of  luxury.^''  This  explained  why  in  the 
smallest  villages  there  are  jewellers'  shops  such  as  are  not 
to  be  found  in  some  large  cities.  There  are  peasant 
women  who  purchase  coral  necklaces  worth  a  thousand 
francs,  and  who  have  in  their  boxes  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand florins-worth  of  rings,  pins,  and  trinkets.  They  live 
.economically,  it   is  true,  the    greater   part  of  the  year ; 


FBIESLAND,  373 

but  on  great  holidays,  marriage,  or  kermesse,  when  they 
go  into  the  towns  in  search  of  eutcrtaiimient,  they  instal 
themselves  in  the  best  inns,  take  the  best  boxes  at  the 
opera  and  theatres,  and  crack,  in  the  intervals,  many  a 
bottle  of  choice  champagne.  A  peasant  who  possesses  a 
capital  of  one  hundred  thousand  francs  is  not  considered 
rich,  because  there  are  many  with  two  or  three  hun- 
dred thousand,  half  a  million,  and  much  more. 

The  character  of  the  Frieslander  is,  by  universal  and 
antique  testimony,  bold,  open,  and  generous.  "  What  a 
pity  you  are  not  a  Frieslander !  '^  they  say  to  one  whom 
they  esteem.  They  are  proud  of  the  nobility  of  their 
race,  which  they  believe  to  be  the  first  of  the  great  Ger- 
manic family,  and  they  boast  that  they  are  the  ouly  people 
of  that  family  that  has  preserved  its  name  from  the  time 
of  Tacitus.  Many  of  them  still  believe  that  their  country 
was  called  Frisia,  after  Frisio,  the  son  of  Alan,  the  bro- 
ther of  Mesa,  the  nephew  of  Shem,  and  are  proud  of  this 
antique  origin.  The  love  of  liberty  is  their  dominant 
sentiment.  "The  Frisians,^' says  their  old  codex,  "  sliall 
be  free  as  long  as  the  wind  shall  blow  in  the  clouds,  and 
as  long  as  the  world  shall  endure.''^  It  is  Fricsland, 
indeed,  that  sends  to  parliament  the  most  ardent  depu- 
ties of  the  Liberal  party.  The  population  is  almost  en- 
tirely Protestant,  and  very  jealous  of  its  faith ;  as  also  of 
its  language,  which  is  illustrated  by  a  great  popular  poet, 
and  cultivated  with  great  care.  "The  peasant  in  par- 
ticular," says  Laveleye,  "  cites  with  pride  the  names  of 
the  illustrious  men  who  were  born  under  the  Frisian  hiem, 
the  two  poets  Gisbertus   Japhis  and    Salvcrda,  and  the 


374  HOLLAND. 

philologist  Tiberius  Hemsterhuys  and  his  son  Franz^  that 
good  and  profound  philosopher  whom  Madame  de  Stael 
calls  the  Dutch  Plato/' 

On  our  way  back  to  Leuwarde  we  met  some  peasants^ 
cartSj  drawn  by  those  fiimous  Friesland  horses  which  are 
esteemed  the  best  trotters  in  the  world.  They  are  black 
with  long  necksj  heads  small  and  full  of  fire.  The  finest 
are  those  raised  in  the  island  of  Ameland.  They  have 
wonderful  endurance ;  are  good  both  for  draught  and 
racehorses,  aud^  what  is  curious  in  a  country  where  all 
things  are  marked  by  placidity  of  movement,  their 
phlegmatic  masters  keep  them  always  at  a  rapid  trot^  in 
the  hay-cart  as  well  as  when  they  are  in  haste  to  arrive. 
The  races  in  which  these  horses  run,  called  harddraveryen^ 
are  very  characteristic  relics  of  ancient  Frisia.  In  all  the 
small  towns  an  arena  is  prepared,  divided  into  two  parallel 
straight  roads,  on  which  the  horses  run  in  couples  and 
successively ;  after  which  the  victors  run,  against  each 
other,  until  one  is  victor  over  all  and  obtains  the  prize. 
The  people  go  in  crowds  to  these  races,  and  accompany 
them  with  applause  and  cries  of  delight,  as  at  the  skating 
matches. 

Upon  reaching  Leuwarde,  I  had  the  most  unexpected 
pleasure  in  the  sight  of  a  nuptial  procession  of  peasants. 
There  were  more  than  thirty  carriages,  all  with  shell- 
shaped  bodies,  covered  with  gilding  and  painted  flowers, 
and  drawn  by  robust  black  horses.  In  each  carriage  sat 
a  peasant  in  his  gala  costume,  and  a  rosy  woman  with  her 
golden  casque  and  lace  veil.  The  horses  went  at  a  quick 
trot,  the  women  clung  each  to  her  companion's  arm,  and 


""  Tag  ^^^^ 


iTtb'E  LI. 


J^ 


i .-  - 


m 


i:,:iVf'ii; 


1 


:mm-^^mM 


FRIESLAND.  375 

threw  sugar-plums  to  the  crowd,  the  white  veils  fluttered, 
and  the  casks  glittered  in  the  light.  The  cortege  passed 
by  and  disappeared  like  some  fantastic  cavalcade  in  the 
midst  of  festive  shouts  and  laughter. 

In  the  evening  I  amused  myself  by  standing  at  the  inn 
door,  looking  at  the  women  and  girls  with  their  glittering 
head-gear,  like  a  general  inspector  at  the  annual  review 
when  the  soldiers  pass  before  him,  one  by  one,  with  arms 
and  baggage.  At  a  certain  moment,  however,  observing 
that  they  were  all  moving  in  one  direction,  I  followed  and 
came  out  into  a  vast  square,  wliere  a  band  of  music  was 
playing  in  the  midst  of  a  great  crowd  and  in  front  of  a 
building  with  illuminated  windows,  where  the  appearance, 
from  time  to  time,  of  gentlemen  in  white  cravats,  seemed 
to  indicate  that  an  official  dinner  was  in  progress.  Al- 
though a  fine  rain  was  falling,  the  people  stood  immovable, 
and  the  women  being  in  the  first  row  formed  a  circle  of 
casques  around  the  band,  which,  from  a  distance,  and 
seen  through  the  veil  of  mist,  seemed  a  line  of  cuirassiers 
on  foot  keeping  back  the  crowd.  Whilst  the  band  played, 
about  twenty  infantry  soldiers,  grouped  in  a  corner  of 
the  square,  accompanied  it  with  their  voices,  and  hopped, 
now  on  one  leg,  now  on  the  other,  waving  their  caps,  and 
assuming  the  grotesque  attitudes  of  the  sots  of  Steen  and 
Brouwer.  The  crowd  looked  on,  and  I  fancy  that  the 
spectacle  must  hrve  given  them  unmixed  delight,  for 
they  shouted  with  laughter,  got  on  tip- toe  to  see,  ex- 
claimed, and  applauded  noisily.  For  myself,  I  looked 
about  for  some  handsome  Frisian  woman,  and  when  I 
found  her,  she  shot  me  a  glance  full  of  pride  and  defiance. 


376  ROLL  AND. 

after  which  I  entered  into  conversation  with  a  bookseller 
always  an  agreeable  thing  in  Holland^  where  the  booksellers 
are,  in  general,  very  courteous  and  very  well  informed. 

That  night,  at  the  inn,  I  scarcely  closed  an  eye  in 
consequence  of  a  rascally  performer  in  some  steeple,  who, 
perhaps  because  he  could  not  sleep  himself,  took  a  bar- 
barous pleasure  in  giving  samples  of  all  Rossini^s  operas 
and  various  popular  songs  to  the  sleeping  city.  I  have 
not  yet  spoken  of  the  mechanism  of  these  aerial  organs, 
but  this  is  how  they  are  contrived.  The  clock  of  the 
steeple  sets  in  motion  a  wheel  and  cylinder  furnished  with 
pins,  similar  to  those  of  a  hand-organ.  To  these  pins, 
disposed  in  the  order  necessary  for  the  melody,  are  at- 
tached wires,  which  move  the  clappers  of  the  bells,  and 
their  respective  hammers.  When  the  hour  strikes  a 
certain  air  is  played;  but  any  air  which  is  desired 
may  be  played  upon  the  cylinder  by  means  of  springs 
moved  by  two  key-boards,  one  of  which  is  played  by  the 
hands,  the  other  by  the  feet.  The  performance  requires 
a  considerable  degree  of  strength  and  skill,  some  of  the 
keys  demanding  a  pressure  equivalent  to  two  pounds  in 
weight ;  and  yet  such  is  the  pleasure  which  the  players 
take  in  their  music — and,  apparently,  they  ascribe  the 
same  to  others — that  they  will  play  for  hours  together 
with  a  vigor  and  a  passion  worthy  of  a  more  harmonious 
result.  I  cannot  say  if  the  player  of  Leuwarde  was  a 
good  performer;  but  I  am  quite  sure  that  he  must  have 
possessed  Herculean  muscles  and  a  terrible  passion  for 
Rossini.  After  having  sent  me  to  sleep  with  the  '^  Bar* 
biere,"  he  woke  me  with  the  "  Semiramide/'  s^^nt  me  oft" 


FBIESLAND.  377 

again  witli  tlie  "  Otello/'  roused  me  once  more  with  the 
*^  Mose  in  Egitto,"  and  so  on.  We  contended  with  each 
other,  he  firing  off  his  notes  and  I  retorting  with  male- 
dictions. We  ceased  together  at  an  advanced  hour  of 
the  night,  and  I  cannot  tell  which  of  us  remained  in  debt 
to  the  other.  In  the  morning  I  complained  to  the  waiter, 
a  phlegmatic  Dutchman,  the  sweetness  of  whose  repose 
had  probably  never  been  troubled  by  any  sound  from 
heaven  or  earth.  ''  Do  you  know,^'  I  said  to  him,  "  that 
this  steeple-music  of  yours  is  very  annoying?  ^'  ''  How  ?  " 
he  answered  innocently,  ^^have  you  not  remarked  that 
there  are  all  the  octaves  with  tones  and  semi-tones  ?'' 
"  Really  ?  ^'  said  I  wdth  clenched  teeth.  ''  That  of  course 
alters  the  case ;  excuse  me.'^ 

Early  in  the  following  morning  I  left  for  Groningen, 
taking  with  me,  in  spite  of  the  musical  persecution,  a 
pleasant  remembrance  of  Leuwarde  and  the  few  persons 
I  had  known  there,  but  embittered  by  a  regret  which  I 
still  cherish — that  of  not  having  seen  the  handsome, 
courageous,  and  severe  daughters  of  the  North  skating 
and  sliding  on  the  ice,  when  they  pass,  according  to  Al- 
phonso  Esquiroz,  wrapped  in  mists,  and  erow^ned  with  a 
nimbus  of  gold  and  lace,  like  the  fantastic  figures  seen  in 
a  dream. 

The  plains  of  Holland,  which,  seen  for  the  first  time 
excite  a  vague  and  agreeable  sensation  of  sadness,  and 
present,  in  their  uniformity,  a  hundred  new  and  admirable 
effects  which  divert  the  fancy,  end,  however,  by  producing 
weariness  and  ennui  even  in  those  who  are  by  nature 
inclined  to  understand  and   enjoy  their  peculiar  form  of 


378  EOLLAlsfD. 

beauty.  There  comes  a  day  when  the  stranger  travelling 
in  Holland  suddenly  feels  an  irresistible  longing  for 
heights  to  which  he  may  lift  his  eyes  and  his  thoughts ; 
for  curves  along  which  his  gaze  may  glide  and  turn 
and  fall  ;  for  forms  which  the  imagination  may  ani- 
mate with  those  lovely  and  wonderful  resemblances  to 
backs  of  lions  and  women^s  breasts,  profiles  and  edifices 
which  are  presented  by  the  mountains,  cliffs,  and  rocks 
of  his  own  land.  The  mind  and  the  eve  are  satiated  with 
space;  and  losing  themselves  in  that  boundless  sea  of  ver- 
dure^ they  feel  the  need  of  peaks  and  abysses,  of  shadow,  blue 
skies,  and  sunlight.  Then  one  has  seen  enough  of  Holland, 
and  thinks  of  home  and  country  with  impatient  longing. 

I  felt  this  longing  for.  the  first  time  on  my  way  from 
Leuwarde  to  Groningen^  capital  of  the  province  of  the 
same  name.  Tired  of  seeing  through  the  fog,  meadow 
after  meadow,  and  canal  after  canal,  I  coiled  myself  up  in 
a  corner  of  the  railway-carriage,  and  thought  of  the  sunny 
slopes  of  Tuscany  and  the  hilly  borders  of  the  Rhine,  as 
Daute's  Maestro  Adamo  thought  of  the  little  brooks  of 
the  Casentino.  At  a  small  station  about  midway  between 
the  two  cities,  a  man  came  into  the  carriage  who  looked 
like,  and  was  in  fact,  a  peasant,  fair  and  fat,  of  the 
color  of  rotten  cheese,  as  Taine  remarks  of  the  Dutch 
peasantry,  dressed  very  cleanly,  with  a  broad  woollen 
scarf  around  his  neck,  and  a  gold  chain  across  his 
waistcoat.  He  gave  me  a  good-huuiored  glance  and  sat 
down  opposite  to  me.  As  the  train  went  on  I  continued 
to  dream  of  hills  and  sunny  slopes,  and  from  time  to  time 
turned  my  head  to  look  at  the  country,  hoping  for  some 


FRIESLAND.  379 

change,  but  seeing  ever  tlie  same  endless  plain,  made 
unconsciously  a  gesture  of  weariness.  The  peasant  looked 
for  some  time  in  silence,  uow  at  me,  now  at  the  landscape; 
then  smiling,  and  pronouncing  liis  words  with  great  dis- 
tinctness, he  said  in  French  : 

•'Tedious— isn't  it?'' 

I  answered  hastily  No,  that  I  did  not  find  it  so ;  on 
the  contrary,  the  landscape  pleased  me. 

"  Oh,  no,"  he  said,  still  smiling,  '^  it  is  tiresome — all 
plains,"  and  making  a  gesture  with  both  hands,  '^  do 
mountains." 

After  a  moment,  occupied  in  mentally  translating  his 
thoughts,  he  asked,  pointing  at  me  with  his  finger  : 

"  From  what  country  ?  " 

*'  From  Italy,"  I  answered. 

"  Italy,"  he  repeated.  "  Are  there  many  mountains 
there  ?  " 

''  So  many,"  I  replied,  "  that  you  might  cover  all  Hol- 
land with  them." 

"  I,"  he  said,  pointing  at  himself  with  his  hand,  "  have 
never  seen  a  mountain  in  my  life ;  I  do  not  know  what 
they  are  like  ;  not  even  the  hills  of  Gueldres." 

A  peasant  who  spoke  French  w^as  already  an  extraor- 
dinary thing  in  my  eyes;  but  a  man  who  had  never  seen 
a  hill  or  mountain  seemed  a  fabulous  creature.  So  I  ques- 
tioned  him  and  drew  from  him  some  curious  information. 

He  had  never  been  further  than  Amsterdam,  and  had 
never  seen  Gueldres,  the  only  mountainous  province  in 
the  Netherlands :  he  had  no  idea  of  a  mountain,  bevond 
what  he    had  gathered  from    books   and  pictures.     The 


380  HOLLAND, 

greatest  heights  to  which  his  eyes  had  ever  been  raised 
were  the  tops  of  the  steeples  and  the  sand-banks.  Like 
thousands  of  his  countrymen,  he  said  "  I  should  like  to 
see  a  mountain/'  as  we  say  "  I  should  like  to  see  the 
Pyramids  of  Egypt/'  He  told  me  that,  as  soon  as  he 
could,  he  intended  to  go  and  see  the  Wiesselschebosch. 
I  asked  v/hat  that  was.  He  answered  that  it  was  a  moun- 
tain in  Gueldres,  near  the  village  of  Apeldoorn,  one  of 
the  highest  in  the  country. 

''  How  high  is  it  ?  ''  I  asked. 

'^  One  hundred  and  four  metres/'  he  replied. 

This  worthy  man  was  destined  to  surprise  me  still 
more.     After  a  moment^s  silence,  he  asked  again : 

"  Italy  ? '' 

'^  Italy,''  I  repeated. 

He  was  thoughtful  for  a  moment,  and  then  said : 

^'  The  law  for  obligatory  instruction  was  rejected,  was 
it  not  ?  " 

"  Cospetto !"  thought  I,  ^'I  shall  presently  learn  that 
he  is  a  subscriber  to  the  ^  Gazzetta  Ufficiale.' "  It  was  a 
fact  that  only  a  few  days  before  the  House  had  rejected 
the  law  for  obligatory  instruction.  I  told  him  what  little 
I  knew  about  it,  and  after  a  little  he  smiled,  seemed  to 
be  composing  a  sentence,  and  then  said  : 

"  And  Garibaldi,  does  he  still  continue " — here  he 
made  the  gesture  of  digging  with  a  spade — "in  hia 
island  ?  " 

"  He  does,"  I  replied,  looking  at  him  with  astonished 
eyes,  and  wondering  whether  he  were  really  the  peasant 
which  he  so  plainly  looked. 


FEIESLAND.  3S1 

He  was  silent  for  a  time ;  then  pointing  Lis  finger  at 


>> 


me,  he  said  : 

"  You  have  lately  lost  a  great  poet  ? 

At  this  sally  I  almost  jumped  out  of  my  seat. 

'^  Yes;  Alessandro  Manzoni/"*  I  replied;  '"'but  how  the 
deuce  do  you  come  to  know  all  these  things  ?  '^  Now,  I 
thought,  he  will  certainly  bring  the  question  of  the  unity 
of  tongues  upon  the  carpet.  '^  Tell  me/'  I  said,  "  do  you 
happen  to  speak  Italian  also  ?  " 

''  No,  no,  no,"  he  answered,  shaking  his  head  and 
laughing ;  "not  at  all,  not  at  all." 

After  this  he  sat  smiling  to  himself,  and  apparently 
preparing  more  surprises  for  me,  until  the  train  glided 
into  the  station  at  Groningen,  when  he  got  up,  took  up 
his  wraps,  and,  pointing  each  syllable  with  his  forefinger, 
said  in  Italian,  with  a  pronunciation  impossible  to  express, 
and  the  air  of  one  who  is  making  a  great  revelation  : 

"  Nel  mezzo  f " 

'^  Nel  mezzo  ?^'  I  exclaimed  in  amazement.  '^  In  the 
midst  of  what  ?  " 

*'  Nel  mcz-zo  del  cam-miu  di  nostra  vita,"  *  he  shouted, 
and  jumped  out  of  the  carriage. 

'^  One  moment !  "  I  cried  ;  "  stop  !  one  word  !  How  in 
the  world "     Bnt  he  was  gone. 

Did  ever  anyone  hear  of  a  peasant  like  this  Dutchman  ? 
And  I  can  take  mv  oath  that  I  have  added  nothijor  to  the 
picture. 


•  The  first  line  of  the  "  Purgatorio  "  of  Dante. 


382  HOLLAND. 


GRONINGEN. 


Groningen  is^  perliapSj  of  all  the  provinces  of  the  Low 
Countries  the  one  which  the  hand  o£  man  has  most  won- 
derfully transformed. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  a  great  part  of  this  province 
was  still  uninhabited.  It  was  a  country  of  sinister  aspect, 
covered  with  brambles,  stagnant  pools,  tempestuous  lakes, 
and  constantly  inundated  by  the  sea.  In  it  there  were 
packs  of  wolves  and  innumerable  swarms  of  aquatic  birds, 
and  no  voice  was  heard  save  that  of  frogs  and  deer. 
Three  centuries  of  patient  and  courageous  labor,  often 
given  up  in  despair  and  again  renewed  with  obstinate 
determination,  and  carried  on  through  every  kind  of  diffi. 
culty  and  peril,  have  transformed  that  savage  and  dan- 
gerous region  into  a  most  fertile  country,  intersected  by 
canals,  dotted  with  towns  and  factories,  where  agriculture 
flourishes,  commerce  and  labor  go  hand  in  hand,  and  a 
population  of  wealthy  and  well-instructed  people  swarms. 
Groningen,  which  in  the  last  century  was  still  a  poor  pro- 


GliONINGEN,  383 

vince,  wliicli  paid  to  the  State  one-half  less  than  Friesland 
and  twelve  times  less  than  Holland  properly  so  called,  is 
now,  taking  into  consideration  its  size,  one  of  the  richest 
provinces  in  the  kingdom,  and  produces  itself  alone  four- 
tenths  of  the  oats,  barley,  and  colza  which  are  gathered 
in  the  Low  Countries. 

The  most  flourishing  part  of  Groningen  is  in  the  north, 
and  to  such  a  degree  does  it  flourish  that  it  needs  to  be 
seen  to  be  appreciated.  Even  I,  who  have  been  over  it, 
cannot  describe  it  better  than  by  adding  to  my  own  ob- 
servations and  those  which  I  gathered  from  the  natives, 
the  descriptions  which  are  given  by  the  French  agricul- 
turist. Count  de  Courcy,  who,  however,  made  but  a  hasty 
survey  of  the  country,  and  the  Belgian  Dclaveleye,  the 
author  of  a  fine  work  upon  the  rural  economy  of  the 
Netherlands,  which  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  cite. 

The  houses  of  the  peasants  are  extraordinarily  large,  and 
have  in  general  two  storeys  and  many  windows  ornamented 
with  handsome  curtains.  Between  the  street  and  the 
house  there  is  a  garden  planted  with  exotic  trees  and 
covered  with  flowering  shrubs ;  and  beside  the  garden  an 
orchard  full  of  fruit-trees  and  various  sorts  of  vegetables. 
Behind  the  house  rises  an  enormous  edifice  which  covers 
under  its  lofty  roof  the  stables,  the  cow-house,  the  hay- 
loft, and  a  great  empty  space  which  might  contain  the 
harvest  of  a  hundred  hectaresJ^  In  this  great  barn  are  to 
be  found  every  kind  of  agricultural  implement  from  Eng- 


•  A  French  measure  containing  two  and  a  half  English  acres  each- 


384  HOLLAND. 

land  and  America,  many  of  them  improved  and  perfec'  =;d 
by  the  peasants  ;  long  files  of  cows,  great  black  horses, 
and  a  marvellous  cleanliness  everywhere.  The  interior  of 
the  houses  might  rival  any  gentleman's  house.  There  is 
furniture  of  American  woods,  pictures,  carpets,  a  piano- 
forte, a  library,  political  journals,  the  monthly  reviews, 
the  most  recent  works  on  agriculture,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  the  last  number  of  the  "  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes." 
Although  fond  of  ease  and  luxury,  these  peasants  have 
preserved  the  simple  manners  of  their  forefathers.  The 
greater  part  of  them,  possessors  of  half  a  million  of  francs, 
a  little  less_,  or  a  great  deal  more,  do  not  disdain  to  put 
their  hands  to  the  plough  and  direct  in  person  the  labors 
of  the  field.  Some  of  them  send  one  of  their  sons  to  the 
university,  no  small  sacrifice,  when  it  is  considered  that 
each  student  costs  his  parents  about  four  thousand  francs 
a  year ;  but  the  majority  disdain,  as  inferior  to  their  own 
condition,  the  professions  of  doctor,  lawyer,  or  teacher, 
and  prefer  to  keep  their  sons  at  home.  There  is  no  class 
of  the  population  which  ranks  above  the  peasants. 
Among  them  are  chosen  almost  all  the  members  of  the 
different  elective  bodies,  even  to  the  deputies  to  the 
States-General.  The  labors  of  agriculture  do  not  prevent 
them  from  taking  an  active  part  in  political  life  and  in 
the  administration  of  public  affairs.  Not  only  do  they 
follow  the  progress  of  the  art  of  agriculture,  but  also  the 
movements  of  modern  thought.  At  Haven,  near  the  city 
of  Groningen,  they  maintain  at  their  own  cost  an  excel- 
lent school  of  agriculture,  presided  over  by  an  illustrious 
professor  and  having   fifty  students.     Even  the  smaller 


GRONINGEN.  385 

villages  have  muscuras  of  natural  history  and  botanic  gar- 
dens, founded  and  kept  up  at  the  common  cost  of  a  few 
hundreds  of  peasants.  Even  the  women  on  market  days 
go  to  visit  the  museums  of  the  University  of  Groningen, 
and  stay  a  long  time,  asking  and  obtaining  information. 
Some  of  the  men  occasionally  make  a  journey  into  Bel- 
gium or  to  England.  The  greater  part  of  them  are  much 
interested  in  theological  questions,  and  many  belong  to 
the  sect  of  Mennonites,  the  Quakers  of  Holland. 

Delavcleve  relates  that  havinsr  seen  on  the  road  i^hich 
connects  the  two  flourishing  villages  of  Usquert  and 
Uythuysen  four  large  factories,  he  asked  the  innkerper 
to  whom  they  belonged,  and  was  answered  that  they  he- 
longed  to  some  ]\Iennonites,  adding,  "  They  are  well-to- 
do  people ;  each  of  them  must  be  worth  six  hundred 
francs  apiece."  ''  I  have  heard,"  went  on  Delaveleye, 
'^  that  there  are  no  poor  among  that  sect.  Is  that  true 
as  regards  this  district  ?  "  ''  No,"  answered  the  host ; 
"that  is,  to  be  just,  yes;  because  the  only  poor  man 
there  was  died  a  few  days  ago,  and  now  there  is  none." 
The  severity  of  manners,  the  love  of  labor,  and  reciprocal 
charity  banish  poverty  from  those  small  religious  commu- 
nities where  all  know,  watch  over,  and  help  each  other. 
Groningen,  in  fact,  is  like  a  species  of  repubHc  governed 
by  a  class  of  educated  peasants;  a  new  and  virgin  country, 
where  no  patrician  castle  rears  its  head  above  the  roofs  of 
the  tillers  of  the  soil ;  a  province  where  the  produce  of 
the  land  remains  in  the  hands  of  the  cultivators,  where 
wealth  and  labor  always  go  hand  in  hand,  and  idleness 
and  opuleuce  are  for  ever  divided. 


386  HOLLAND. 

The  description  would  not  be  complete  if  T  failed  to 
speak  of  a  certain  right  peculiar  to  the  Groningen  pea- 
santry and  called  beldem-regt,  which  is  considered  as  the 
principal  cause  of  the  extraordinary  prosperity  of  the  pro- 
vince. 

The  heJclem-regt  is  the  right  to  occupy  a  farm  with  the. 
payment  of  an  annual   rent,  which  the    proprietor  can 
never  augment.     This  right  passes  to  the  heirs   collateral 
as  well  as  direct,  and  the  holder  may  transmit  it  by  will, 
may  sell  it,  rent  it,  raise  a  mortgage  upon  it  even,  with- 
out  the  consent  of  the  proprietor  of  the  land.     Every 
time,  however,  that  this  right  passes  from  one  hand  to 
another,   whether  by  inheritance  or   sale,  the  proprietor 
receives  one  or  two  years'  rent.     The  farm-buildings  be- 
long, in  general,  to  the  possessor  of  the  bekhm-regt,  who, 
when  his  right  is  in  any  way  annulled,  may  exact  the 
price  of  the  materials..    The  possessor  of  the  beklem-regt 
pays  all  taxes,  cannot  change  the  form  of  the  property, 
nor  in   any  way  diminish  its  value.     The  beklem-regt  is 
indivisible.     One  person  only  can  possess  it,  and  conse- 
quently one  only  of  the  heirs   can  inherit  it.     However, 
bj^  paying  the  sum  stipulated  in  case  of  the  passage  of 
the  beklem-regt  from  one  hand  to  another,  the  husband 
may  inscribe  his  wife,  or  the  wife  her  husband,  and  then 
the  consort  inherits  a  part  of  the  right.    When  the  posses- 
sor is  ruined,  or  does  not  pay  his  annual  rent^  the  beklem- 
regt  is  not  at  once  annulled.     The  creditors  can  cause  it 
to  be  sold,  but  the  purchaser  must  first  of  all  pay  all  out- 
standing debts  to  the  proprietor. 

The  origin  of  this  custom  is  obscure.     It  appears  to 


GRONINGEJSr,  387 

liave  begun  in  Groniiigcn,,  in  the  middle  ages,  on  the 
convent  farms.  The  land  at  that  time  being  oE  small 
value,  the  monks  easily  granted  to  tlie  cultivators  the 
possession  of  a  certain  portion  of  their  lands,  with  the 
condition  that  a  certain  annual  sum  should  be  paid,  and 
another  sum  at  every  decease.  This  contract  assured 
to  the  convent  a  fixed  rent,  and  exempted,  the  monks 
from  the  charge  of  farms  which  in  general  produced 
nothing.  The  example  of  the  convents  was  followed  by 
the  large  landowners,  and  by  the  civil  corporations.  They 
reserved  to  themselves  the  right  to  dismiss  the  tenant  at 
the  end  of  every  ten  years ;  but  they  did  not  use  their 
right,  because  if  they  did  so,  they  would  have  had  to  pay 
the  value  of  the  buildings  put  up  on  their  land,  and  they 
would  not  easily  have  found  another  tenant.  During 
the  troubles  of  tlie  sixteenth  century,  the  beklem-regt 
became,  in  fact,  hereditary,  or,  at  least,  many  authorities 
declared  it  to  be  such.  Jurisprudence  and  custom  decided 
the  various  points  that  were  subjects  for  disagreement ;  a 
clearer  formula  was  declared  and  generally  accepted,  and 
from  that  time  the  beklem-regt  maintained  its  position 
by  the  side  of  the  civil  code,  always  respected,  and 
gradually  diffused  over  the  w^hole  of  the  province  of 
G renin  gen. 

The  advantages  derived  by  agriculture  from  this  kind 
of  contract  are  easily  understood.  By  virtue  of  the 
beklem-regt  the  farmers  have  a  continuous  and  very  strong 
interest  in  making  every  possible  effort  to  increase  the 
produce  of  their  land.  Secure,  as  they  are,  of  the  sole 
enjoyment  of  all  the  ameliorations  which  they  may  intro- 


3S8  HOLLAND. 

diice  into  the  cultivation,  of  not  having,  like  onlinary 
tenants,  to  pay  a  rent  which  grows  higher  and  higher  in 
proportion  as  they  succeed  in  increasing  the  fertility  of 
the  land.  They  nndertake  the  boldest  enterprises,  intro- 
duce innovations,  and  carry  out  the  costliest  experiments. 
The  legitimate  recompense  of  hibor  is  the  entire  and 
certain  profit  tl  at  accrues  from  that  labor.  Therefore 
the  beldtm-regt  is  a  powerful  stimulus  to  work,  study,  and 
perfection. 

Thus  a  stranire  custom,  inherited  from  the  middle  asjes, 
has  created  a  class  of  farmers,  who  enjoy  all  the  benefits 
of  property,  excepting  that  the  net  product  is  not  all 
reserved  for  them,  which  would,  indeed,  divert  them  from 
their  task.  Instead  of  tenants  continually  in  trepidation 
lest  they  should  lose  the  land,  adverse  to  any  costly  inno- 
vation, subject  to  a  superior,  and  always  interested  in 
concealing  the  prosperity  of  their  condition,  there  is  in 
Groningcn  a  population  of  free  and  sclf-rcspccted  citizens, 
simple  in  their  habits,  but  eager  for  instruction,  of  which 
they  comprehend  all  the  advantages,  and  are  interested  in 
propagating  it  in  every  way ;  a  class  of  peasants  who 
practise  agriculture,  not  blindly  and  as  if  it  were  to  be 
contemned,  but  as  a  noble  occupation  which  demands 
the  exercise  of  the  highest  faculties  of  the  intelligence, 
and  procures  for  those  who  follow  it  fortune,  social  im- 
portance, and  public  respect;  peasants  who  are  econonncal 
in  the  present,  prodigal  for  the  future,  disposed  for  any 
kind  of  sacrifice  that  will  fertilize  their  land,  enlarge 
their  houses,  buy  them  better  tools  and  a  better  race  of 
animals;  a  rural  population,  in  short,  who  are  content  with 


GEONINGEN.  389 

their  condition,  because  their  fate  depends  only  upon 
their  own  prudence  and  activity. 

As  long  as  the  possessor  of  the  beklem-rerjt  cultivates 
the  land  himself,  the  hereditary  tenancy  produces  only 
good  effects.  These  good  effects  cease,  however,  from 
the  moment  when  he,  availing  himself  of  his  power  to 
underlet,  cedes  to  another  his  rights  for  a  given  sum, 
with  which  he  continues  to  pay  the  proprietor  or  land- 
lord. In  this  case  all  the  inconveniences  of  the  system 
at  once  make  themselves  felt,  with  the  difference  that 
here  the  farmer  has  to  maintain  two  idlers  instead  of  one. 
Su])letting  was  formerly  very  rare,  for  the  produce  of  cul- 
tivation was  barely  sufficient  to  maintain  the  family  of 
the  tenant  when  he  farmed  the  land  himself.  But  since 
the  increase  in  prices  of  all  kinds  of  food,  and,  above  ail, 
since  the  opening  of  trade  with  England,  the  profits  are 
very  considerable,  because  the  possessor  of  the  heklem-regt 
can  find  a  seb^^d  tenant  disposed  to  pay  him  a  higher 
rent  than  that  which  he  pays  to  his  landlord  ;  and  as 
the  custom  of  subletting  extends  more  and  more,  the 
consequences  cannot  fail  to  be  injurious. 

Meantime,  when  the  future  conditions  of  the  human 
race  are  considered,  it  is  generally  desired  that  two  things 
should  be  brought  about  :  first,  a  growing  increase  in  pro- 
duction ;  secondly,  a  division  of  property  according  to  the 
principles  of  justice.  Now  one  fact  that  justice  demands 
is  this :  that  the  laborer  should  enjoy  the  fruits  of  his 
labor,  and  their  progress.  It  i>  then  consolatory  to  see 
upon  the  distant  shores  of  the  North  Sea  an  antique 
custom  which  answers  in  some  sort  to  this  economic  ideal, 


390  HOLLAND, 

and  which  gives  to  a  whole  province  an  extraordinary 
and  equally  apportioned  prosperity. 

One  capital  objection_,  among  others,,  has  been  made 
to  these  opinions  of  Delavelcye.  It  is  questioned  whether 
the  extraordinary  prosperity  of  Groningen  is  really  due 
to  the  beldem-7'egty  or  to  the  exceptional  fertility  of  the 
soil.  Delaveleye  rejects  this  doubt,  saying  that  the 
extraordinary  prosperity  and  the  perfection  of  cultivation 
exist  in  the  stormy  zone  of  Groningen,  which  is  anything 
rather  than  fertile  ;  but  are  not  found  in  any  other  part, 
except  in  a  very  inferior  degree  in  Friesland,  where  the 
soil  is  of  the  same  quality.  If,  then,  hereditary  tenancy 
has  not  produced  in  other  countries  the  same  eonssquences 
as  in  Groningen,  it  is  because  it  has  been  differently 
practised,  as  in  some  provinces  of  Italy,  where  the  condotto 
di  livellOj  which  is  very  nearly  a  belcle?n-re(jft,  hampers 
the  liberty  of  the  farmer  with  the  obligation  to  pay 
every  year  to  the  landlord  a  certain  quantity  of  produce 
of  a  kind  settled  upon  beforehand. 

All  Dutch  economists  conclude  and  are  agreed  in 
recognising  the  excellent  effects  of  this  custom,  affirming 
that  to  the  beJdem-i'egt  Groningen  owes  all  her  wealth,  and 
in  the  agricultural  meetings  w-hich  discuss  the  question 
the  desire  is  expressed  that  the  same  kind  of  contract 
shall  be  adopted  in  the  other  provinces. 

Pursuing  my  excursion  across  the  country,  I  reached 
the  shore  of  the  North  Sea,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Gulf 
of  Doll  art.  This  gulf  was  not  in  existence  prior  to  the 
thirteenth  century.  The  river  Ems  emptied  itself  directly 
into    the    sea,  and  Groningen  was  joined  to    Hanover. 


GEONINGEN,  391 

The  sea  destroyed  the  wild  region  that  extended  between 
the  two  provinces_,  and  formed  the  gwM  which,  since  the 
sixteenth  century,  has  been  growing  smaller  by  reason  of 
the  deposits  of  mud  and  slime  which  accumulate  along 
its  banks.  Already  numerous  dykes,  built  one  before  the 
other,  testify  to  the  conquest  of  the  land  over  the  sea, 
and  new  ones  are  continually  being  constructed,  gra- 
dually increasing  the  agricultural  dominion  of  Groningen, 
and  beautiful  fields  of  barley  and  colza  flourish  where, 
a  few  years  ago,  the  waves  roared  in  their  fury  and 
destroyed  the  boats  of  the  fishermen.  It  is  a  fine  thing 
to  see,  from  the  tops  of  the  dykes  which  defend  those 
coasts,  how  the  sea  and  the  land  meet,  mingle,  and  are 
transformed.  At  the  foot  of  the  dykes  extends  a  muddy 
marsh  already  in  great  part  covered  svith  grass  and  small 
green  weeds  ;  a  little  beyond  this  a  small  bit  of  peat  res- 
cued and  turned  into  soil;  still  beyond,  marshes  and  wet 
mud  which  gradually  becomes  thick  and  turbid  water; 
and  beyond  again,  sand-banks,  some  of  which  rise  so  as 
to  form  dunes  and  little  islets.  On  one  of  these  islets, 
called  Rottum,  there  lived  some  years  ago  a  family  who 
lived  by  catching  seals;  and  strange  stories  are  told  about 
the  other  islands^  in  which  figure  mysterious  hermits,  ap- 
paritions, and  monsters.  The  pools  of  turbid  water  which 
lie  at  the  foot  of  the  dykes  are  called  tvaddtn,  or  pohhn's 
in  a  state  of  formation,  and  are  land  covered  with  water 
at  high  tide  and  rising  gradually  higher  and  higher  as  the 
currents  of  the  river  Ems  and  the  Zuyder  Zee  go  on  de- 
positing new  strata  of  clay.  At  low  water  the  cattle  ford 
them;    at  some    points   boats    can    pass;    and   immense 


392  HOLLAND, 

flocks  of  sea-birds  frequent  them  in  search  of  the  shell- 
fish left  by  the  receding  tide.  In  less  than  a  hundred 
years  birds,  boats,  pools  and  arms  of  the  sea  will  have 
vanished ;  the  islets  will  be  dunes  that  defend  the  coasts, 
and  agriculture  will  have  called  forth  from  the  virgin  soil 
a  luxuriant  and  beneficent  vegetation.  Thus  on  that  side 
Holland  advances  victoriously  upon  the  sea,  avenging  old 
injuries  with  the  iron  of  the  plough  and  the  blade  of  the 
scythe. 

With  all  this,  however,  I  should  have  formed  no  con- 
ception of  the  richness  of  the  country,  if  I  had  not  had 
the  chance  of  seeing  the  market  of  Groningen. 

But  before  speaking  of  the  market,  I  must  mention  the 
city  itself. 

Groningen — so  called,  according  to  some,  from  Trojan 
Grunio,  and  founded,  according  to  others,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian  era,  around  a  Roman 
fortress  which  Tacitus  calls  Corbulonis  monumentum  (all 
which  assertions  have  been  affirmed  and  denied  for  cen- 
turies and  remain  undecided  to  this  day) — is  the  most 
considerable  of  the  cities  of  North  Holland  for  size  and 
commerce,  but  perhaps  the  least  curious  to  a  stranger. 
It  is  situated  on  a  river  called  Hunse,  at  the  junction  of 
three  great  canals  which  connect  it  with  several  other 
commercial  towns ;  is  surrounded  by  high  bastions  con- 
structed in  1698  by  Coehorn,  the  Dutch  Vauban ;  and 
has  a  port,  which  although  distant  several  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Ems,  can  receive  the  largest  merchant  ships. 

The  streets  and  squares  are  large,  the  canals  as  wide  as 
those  of  Amsterdam,  the  houses  taller  than  in  almost  any 


GRONINGEN.  393 

other  Dutch  city,  the  shops  worthy  of  Paris,  the  cleanli- 
iiess  worthy  of  Brock ;  with  notliiiig  pecuHar  in  form, 
color,  or  general  aspect.  Arriving  there  from  Leuwarde 
you  feel  as  if  you  were  a  hundred  miles  nearer  home,  and 
in  the  atmosphere  of  Germany  or  France.  The  sole  pecu- 
liarity of  Groningen  are  certain  houses  covered  with  a 
greyish  tint  all  encrusted  with  small  bits  of  glass,  which, 
when  the  sun  shines  upon  them,  burn  with  a  strange 
radiance,  looking  as  if  the  walls  were  set  with  pearls  and 
silver  beads.  There  is  a  fine  town  hall,  built  during  the 
French  domination,  a  market-place  which  Is  said  to  be 
the  largest  in  Holland,  and  a  vast  church,  anciently  dedi- 
cated to  Saint  INIartin,  which  presents  various  noteworthy 
features  of  the  different  phases  of  the  Gothic,  and  has  a 
very  tall  steeple  composed  of  live  diminishing  stories,  so 
that  it  seems  to  be  made  up  of  five  steeples,  each  one 
smaller  than  the  lower  one,  and  placed  one  atop  of  the 
other. 

Groningen  has  a  university,  for  which  reason  it  is 
honored  by  its  neighbor  cities  with  the  name  of  the 
Athens  of  the  North.  This  university,  established  in  a 
new  and  vast  building,  has  but  a  small  number  of  students, 
since  the  peasants,  the  only  rich  men  in  the  province, 
seldom  send  their  sons  to  it,  and  the  wealthy  gentlemen 
of  Friesland  are  educated  at  Leyden.  It  is,  however,  a 
university  well  worthy  of  standing  with  the  other  two. 
There  is  a  fine  anatomical  cabinet,  and  a  museum  of 
natural  history,  containing  many  precious  objects.  The 
programme  of  studies  differs  little  from  that  of  the  other 
wo  universities  j  there  is  a  difference,   however^  in  the 


'S4r  HOLLAND. 

direetion^  whicli,  in  consequence  of  the  neighborhood 
of  Hanover,  is  subject  to  the  influences  of  German  litera- 
ture and  science,  and  presents  a  religious  character 
entirely  its  own.  The  theologians  of  Groningen,  saj's 
Alphonso  Esquiroz,  in  his  ^'  Studio  sulle  Universita 
Ollandese/^  form,  in  the  intellectual  movement  of  the 
Low  Countries,  a  school  apart,  which  originated,  towards 
1833,  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  most  orthodox  of  cities — 
Utrecht.  A  professor  of  Utrecht,  M.  van  Heusde,  sought 
to  open  a  new  horizon  to  religious  belief;  M.  Hofstede 
de  Goot,  of  the  University  of  Groningen,  participated  in 
his  ideas,  and  joined  him ;  and  in  that  w^ay  was  formed 
the  nucleus  of  a  theological  society,  resident  in  the  latter 
city,  who,  rebellious  against  synodal  protestantism,  and 
formally  denying  all  human  authority  in  matters  of  re- 
ligion, are  seeking  to  initiate  a  type  of  Christianity 
peculiar  to  the  Netherlands,  of  which  it  would  be  difficult 
to  give  a  clear  idea,  for  the  reason  that  those  who  profess 
it,  and  propagate  it  in  their  writings,  are  themselves  very 
obscure  in  their  exposition.  In  all  this  heterodoxy,  ob- 
serves Esquiroz, — which  can,  without  serious  danger,  be 
introduced  into  the  country,  because,  in  the  midst  of  the 
agitation  of  religious  ideas,  the  customs,  forms,  and  tra- 
ditions of  the  ancient  faith  remain  immutable — there  is  a 
grave  and  delicate  point  upon  which  the  orthodox  are 
always  trying  to  trip  up  their  adversary,  and  never  suc- 
ceeding— the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  Upon  this  point 
the  thought  of  the  heterodox  is  involved  in  a  cloud.  For 
them,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  most  perfect  type  of  humanity, 
the    messenger  of  God,  the  image  of  God.      But  is  he 


GWNINGEN.  805 

God  in  person  ?  They  put  this  question  aside  with  every 
sort  of  scholastic  subtlety.  Some,  for  example,  proclaim 
their  belief  in  his  divinity^  but  not  in  his  deity — an  an- 
swer so  obscure  as  to  be  almost  equivalent  to  a  negation. 
For  which  reasons  the  doctrine  of  Dutch  heterodoxv  niav 
be  called  a  sentimental  deism,  more  or  less  bound  to  the 
poetical  side  of  Christianity.  The  ardor  of  rebgious  ques- 
tions, however,  is  decreasing  every  year.  The  students  of 
the  University  of  Groningen  are  more  interested  in  litera- 
ture and  science,  towards  which  ends  thev  form  societies 
for  readings  and  study  in  common,  above  all  of  practical 
science,  which  predilection  is  one  of  the  most  marked 
characteristics  of  the  Fricslandcrs,  with  wdiom  those  of 
Groningen  have  many  features  of  resemblance  and  nu- 
merous ties  of  relationship.  The  students  of  Groningen 
are  more  quiet  and  mors  studious  than  those  of  Leyden, 
who,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  to  be  wild  in  Holland,  have 
the  reputation  of  being  wild. 

Besides  the  glory  of  the  university,  which  dates  from 
1614,  Groningen  has  that  of  liaving  given  birth  to  several 
men  illustrious  in  the  arts  and  sciences,  about  whom  it  is 
])leasant  to  hear  ]Mcsser  Ludovico  Guicciardini  dilate  in 
his  vivid  and  forcible  style.  He  appears  to  have  had  a 
peculiar  affection  for  the  place.  First  of  all  he  places 
Ridolpho  Agricola,  ''  to  whom,  among  other  authors, 
Erasmus  in  his  writings  gives  immense  praise,  saying 
that  on  that  side  of  the  mountains  anions:  men  of  literarv 
gifts  there  is  none  greater  nor  more  complete  than  he, 
and  that  there  is  no  honest  discipline,  wherein  he,  with 
any  artisan  you  will,  may  not  contend  ;  among  Greeks 


396  HOLLAND. 

and  Latins  the  best  of  all ;  in  poetry  another  Virgil,  in 
oratory  another  Politian ;  most  eloquent,  a  philosopher,  a 
musician,  and  writer  of  many  excellent  works,  with 
many  other  rare  graces  and  felicities  to  him  attributed/' 
He  goes  on  to  speak  of  "  Vesellius,  called  Basil,  excellent 
philosopher,  of  so  much  doctrine,  virtue,  and  science  in 
every  faculty,  as  appears  in  an  infinite  number  of  his 
works,  written  and  given  to  the  press,  and  who  is  like- 
wise called  the  light  of  the  ivorlcl."  And  he  continues 
that  for  fear  of  not  being  able  to  worthily  praise  this 
Vesellius  and  this  Agricola,  who  are  "  the  two  stars  of 
Groeninghen,^^  he  prefers  to  be  silent,  "and  leave  the 
page  white  for  anyone  who  shall  know  better  than  he  how 
to  exalt  their  names  and  their  country/''  Finally  he 
cites  the  name  of  "  another  great  man,  a  citizen  he  also 
of  the  same  land,  called  Rinierius  Predinius,  most  worthy 
author  of  divers  books  written  with  consummate  honor 
and  laudation/^  Besides  these  mav  be  named  the  famous 
orientalist  Albert  Schultens,  the  Baron  Ruperda,  Abra- 
ham Frommins,  and  others. 

In  the  costume  and  aspect  of  the  people  there  is,  for  a 
stranger,  little  difference  from  those  of  Friesland.  Only 
the  helmets  of  the  women  are  different.  At  Leuwarde 
the  greater  part  of  them  are  of  silver ;  at  Groningen  they 
are  all  of  gold,  and  in  the  exact  form  of  a  helmet,  cover- 
ing the  whole  head;  but  there  are  fewer  to  be  seen. 
Ladies,  it  is  understood,  do  not  wear  them  any  more; 
the  richer  peasant  women  have  also  left  them  off,  in  order 
to  be  more  like  ladies ;  and  now  it  is  onlv  the  servant- 
maids  who  can  boast  themselves  legitimate  descendants  of 


GEONINGEK  307 

those  armed  virgins,  who,  according  to  the  ancient  Ger- 
manic mythology,  presided  over  battles. 

With  regard  to  manners  and  customs,  I  had  some 
precious  notes  from  a  personage  of  Groningen,  which  I 
think  are  not  to  be  found  in  any  book  of  travels.  There 
the  customs  which  relate  to  the  lives  of  girls  and  married 
women  are  entirely  diiferent  from  ours.  Among  us  (in 
Italy),  a  girl  who  marries  comes  out  of  a  state  of  sub- 
jection, almost  of  imprisonment,  to  enter  one  of  perfect 
liberty,  where  she  finds  herself  suddenly  surrounded  by 
the  consideration,  homage,  and  admiration  of  those  \vho 
had  formerly  neglected  her.  In  Groningen,  on  the  con- 
trary, liberty  and  gallantry  are  privileges  of  the  girls, 
and  the  married  women  live  surrounded  and  hemmed  in 
by  a  hundred  precautions  and  watchful  eyes,  and  are 
treated  with  cold  respect,  almost  neglect.  The  young 
men  devote  themselves  to  girls  only,  and  a  great  deal  of 
liberty  is  conceded  to  them.  A  young  fellow  who  visits 
in  a  family,  even  if  he  is  not  an  intimate  friend,  offers  to 
accompany  the  daughters,  or  one  daughter,  to  concert 
or  theatre,  at  night,  m  a  carriage,  alone,  and  father  and 
mother  make  no  opposition  ;  and  if  anyone  did,  he  would 
pass  for  a  fool  or  an  ill-bred  person,  and  would  be  blamed 
and  laughed  at.  A  young  couple  may  be  engaged  for 
years;  and  during  the  whole  time  they  are  seen  together 
every  day,  taking  long  walks,  remaining  alone  together  in 
the  house,  and  in  the  evening,  before  separating,  standing 
bv  the  half  hour  in  the  door  with  no  one  near  them. 
Girls  of  fifteen  years  of  age,  daughters  of  the  first  families, 
traverse  the  city  from  one  end  of  it  to  the  other,  going  to 


803  HOLLAND, 

and  coming  from  school,,  even  towards  evening,  alone, 
and,  should  they  stop  and  speak  with  anyone,  nohody  pays 
any  attention.  On  the  contrary,  if  a  married  woman 
assumes  the  smallest  liberty  of  action,  there  is  no  end  to 
the  comment  she  excites;  but  that  happens  so  seldom  that 
it  may  almost  be  said  never  to  happen  at  all.  "  Our 
young  mcn,^^  said  my  informant,  '^are  not  at  all  dan- 
gerous. They  can  be  gallant  with  girls,  because  the  girls 
are  timid,  and  their  timidity  encourages  them ;  but  with 
ladies  they  are  too  shy.  Within  my  memory  there  have 
been  but  two  notorious  cases  of  conjugal  infidelity  in  this 
city.''  And  he  told  me  about  them.  ^'  So  it  is,  my  dear 
Sir,"  he  added,  putting  his  hand  upon  ray  knee,  '^that 
here  we  make  no  conquests,  except  in  agriculture,  and  ho 
who  wishes  to  make  them  in  another  field,  must  first  go 
before  a  notary  and  make  his  attestation  that  his  in- 
tentions are  to  fight  the  good  fight  according  to  la'.v,  and 
with  an  honest  purpose  for  peace  in  the  end."*'  Arguing, 
wrongly,  from  my  silence,  that  this  state  of  things  was  not 
to  my  taste,  he  added  :  "  Such  is  our  way  of  life;  tedious 
if  you  will,  but  wholesome.  You  drink  the  cup  of  life 
all  at  once,  we  take  it  slowly  and  in  small  mouth fuls. 
You,  perhaps,  enjoy  more,  but  we  are  more  constantly 
content.-'^  "  God  bless  you  ! ''  said  I.  ^'  God  convert 
you  !  '^  he  replied. 

But  let  us  come  to  the  market,  which  was  the  last 
spectacle  of  life  that  I  saw  in  Holland. 

Early  in  the  morning  I  took  a  turn  about  the  city  to 
see  the  peasants  come  in.  Every  hour  arrived  a  train 
which  brought  a  crowd  of  them ;  by  every  country  road 


GRONINGEN,  309 

tliere  came  briglitly-paintccl  wagons^  flrawn  by  five  Llnrk 
horses,  and  bringing  majestic  married  couples;  by  every 
canal  arrived  boats  with  sails^  full  of  produce ;  in  a  few 
hours  the  city  was  full  of  noise  and  people.  The  pea- 
santSj  male,  are  all  dressed  in  cloth  almost  black,  witli  a 
woollen  cravat,  gloves,  and  watch-chain,  and  carry  a  lariic 
leathern  portfolio,  a  cigar  in  the  mouth,  and  a  coun- 
tenance of  serene  contentment.  The  peasant  Avonien  are 
beflowered,  bejewelled,  beribboned,  like  the  Madonna  of  the 
Spanish  churches.  The  business  of  the  market  over,  they 
invade  the  shops  and  restaurants,  not  as  our  peasants  do, 
who  look  timidly  about  them  with  an  air  of  asking  leave 
to  enter,  but  with  the  look  and  bearing  of  persons  who 
know  themselves  to  be  wTlcome.  In  the  restaurants  the 
tables  are  speedily  covered  with  bottles  of  claret  and 
Khine  wine;  in  the  shops  the  clerks  hasten  to  take  down 
their  merchandize.  The  women  are  received  like  prin- 
cesses, and  they  spend,  indeed,  in  a  princely  manner. 
Incidents  occur  which  I  have  heard  described  bv  eve- 
witnesses.  A  merchant  dealing  with  one  of  the  ladies  of 
the  city,  names  the  price  of  a  silk  dress.  "Too  dear,'* 
answers  the  lady.  "I  take  it,"  says  a  peasant  woman 
standing  by,  and  she  does  so.  Another  peasant  is  buy- 
ing a  pianoforte.  The  dealer  shows  her  one  which  cost 
one  thousand  francs.  "Have  vou  none  dearer?"  savs 
she,  "all  my  friends  have  pianofortes  at  a  thousand 
francs."  Husband  and  wife  are  passing  a  printseller's 
window,  and  see  an  oil-painting  in  a  gilt  frame  displayed 
therein.  They  stop,  and  discover  in  it  some  vague  re- 
semblance to  their  own  house   and   garden.     The    wife 


400  HOLLAND. 

says  ''  Let  us  buy  it/'  The  husband  answers  "  Let  us 
buy  it."  They  enter  the  shop,  count  out  there  and  then 
three  hundred  florins,  and  carry  off  the  picture. 

When  they  have  completed  their  purchases,  they 
visit  the  museums,  enter  the  cafes  and  read  the  journals, 
or  take  a  turn  about  the  city,  casting  compassionate 
glances  at  all  that  population  of  shopkeepers,  clerks,  pro- 
fessors, officials,  proprietors,  who  in  other  countries  are 
envied  by  those  who  till  the  ground,  but  here  are  re- 
garded by  them  in  the  light  of  poor  people.  A  stranger 
to  the  real  condition  of  things  might  believe,  at  sight  of 
this  spectacle,  that  he  had  arrived  in  a  country  where 
some  great  social  revolution  had  taken  place,  and  that  the 
newly  enriched  had  come  into  the  city  to  triumph  over 
the  despoiled  citizens.  But  the  finest  sight  is  in  the  even- 
ing when  they  go  back  to  their  villages  and  their  factories. 
Then  all  the  country  roads  are  covered  with  those  curious 
wagons  all  driven  at  top  speed,  trying  to  outstrip  one 
another,  even  the  women  urging  on  the  horses,  and  the 
victorious  ones  cracking  their  whips  in  sign  of  triumph. 
The  air  resounds  with  song  and  laughter,  until  at  last  the 
festive  tumult  is  lost  in  the  endless  green  of  the  fields 
together  with  the  last  red  rays  of  sunset. 


FROM  GRONLNGEN  TO   AR:\nEM, 


At  Groningen  I  turned  my  back  upon  the  North  Sea^  my 
face  to  Germany,  my  heart  to  Italy,  and  began  my  home- 
ward journey,  rapidly  crossing  the  three  Dutch  provinces 
of  the  Dreuta,  Ovcr-Yssel,  and  Gueldres,  which  extend 
around  the  gulf  of  the  Zuyder  Zee  between  Friesland  and 
Utrecht;  apart  of  Holland  that  would  be  wearisome  to 
anyone  who  travelled  without  the  curiosity  of  an  agri- 
culturist or  a  naturalist,  but  not  without  its  charm  to 
those  who  have  a  strong  love  of  nature.  Throughout  the 
journey  the  sky  was  in  harmony  with  the  aspect  of  the 
country,  all  monotonous  and  grey ;  and  I  was  almost  con- 
stantly alone.  So  I  was  able  to  enjoy  the  melancholy 
beauty  of  the  spectacle  in  silence. 

Leaving  the  province  of  Groningen  and  entering  that 
of  the  Dreuta,  there  is  a  sudden  change  in  the  aspect  of 
the  country.  On  every  side,  as  far  as  the  eye  can  see, 
extend  immense  fields  covered  with  underl)rush  and 
brambles,    in    which    there    is    no    path,  nor    house,  nor 


402  HOLLAND. 

stream,  nor  herl^e,  nor  any  indication  of  labor  or  habi- 
tation  to  be  seen.  A  few  clumps  of  small  oaks,  wliich 
are  considered  as  traces  of  the  former  existence  of  an- 
cient forests,  are  the  only  objects  which  rise  above  the 
surrounding  underln'ush  ;  the  partridge,  the  hare,  and  the 
wild  cock  are  the  onlv  livin"-  creatures  that  meet  the  eve 
of  the  traveller.  Yon  think  you  are  at  the  end  of  this 
desert-land,  when  it  begins  again  ;  bush  succeeds  to  bush, 
and  solitude  to  solitude.  On  the  drenr}^  plain  are  seen 
hne  and  there  small  mounds,  which  some  believe  to  have 
been  raised  bv  the  Celts,  and  otli.rs  bv  the  Germans,  in 
which  excavators  have  found  earthen  vessels^  savrs  and 
hammers,  calcined  bones,  stones  for  grinding  grain,  arrow- 
heads, and  rings  wh.ich  are  supposed  to  have  served  for 
money.  Besides  these  mounds,  there  have  been  found, 
and  still  remain,  immense  masses  of  red  granite,  piled 
up  and  arranged  in  a  form  revealing  the  intention  of  a 
m.onument,  either  an  altar  or  a  tomb,  but  without  in- 
scription, naked  and  solitary,  like  monster  aerolites  fallen 
in  the  midst  of  the  desert.  Tn  the  country  tbey  are 
railed  tombs  of  the  Huns;  tradition  attributes  them  to 
the  bands  of  Attila ;  the  people  say  that  they  were 
brought  into  Holland  by  an  ancient  race  of  giants;  the 
i2,(Mjlogists  believe  that  they  came  from  Norway  on  the 
l)ack  of  antediluvian  glaciers ;  and  the  historian  loses 
hiuiself  in  vain  conjectures.  Everything  in  this  strange 
province  is  antique  and  mysterious.  The  customs  of 
primitive  Germany  are  found  here_,  tillage  of  the  ground 
is  common  on  the  csschcn,  the  rustic  horn  calling  the 
peasants  to  labor,  the   houses  described   by  Roman  his- 


FROM  GliONINGEN  TO  ABNHEM.  403 

toriaus^  and   over  all  this   aucieiit    world    the    perpetutd 
mystery  of  an  immeuse  silence  : 

"  • ove  per  poco 

II  cor  non  si  spaura." 

As  you  go  onwards  you  begin  to  see  marslies,  great 
])Ools  of  water,  zones  of  muddy  ground,  intersected  Ijy 
canals  of  blackish  water,  ditches  deep  and  long  like 
trendies,  heaps  of  sods  of  the  color  of  bitumen,  a  few 
boats,  a  few  liunian  beings.  These  are  the  peat-tields, 
whose  name  alone  excites  in  the  mind  a  hundred  fan- 
tastic images : — the  vast  and  slow  conflagration  of  the 
earth  ;  floating  tracts  of  land  with  their  inhabitants  and 
cattle  upon  the  waters  of  the  ancient  lakes;  forests  wan- 
dering in  the  gulfs;  fields  torn  from  the  mainland  and 
beaten  by  the  tempests  of  the  sea;  immense  clouds  of 
smoke  rising  from  the  smouldering  peat-grounds  of  the 
Dreuta,  and  driven  by  the  north  wind  over  the  half  of 
Europe,  as  far  as  Paris,  Switzerland,  the  Danu])e.  Peat — 
live  earth,  as  it  is  called  by  the  Dutch  peasant — is  tiie 
principal  wealth  of  the  Dreuta,  and  one  of  the  most 
profitable  in  all  Holland.  It  gives  work  to  thousands  of 
hands ;  almost  all  the  population  of  Holland  use  it  for 
fuel ;  it  serves  many  uses,  with  the  sods  the  foundations 
of  houses  are  strengthened,  with  the  ashes  the  land  is 
fertilised,  metals  are  polished  with  the  soot,  and  herrings 
are  dried  in  the  smoke  of  it.  On  the  waters  of  the 
Wahal,  the  Leek,  the  ^leuse,  on  the  canals  of  Fries- 
land  and  Groningen,  on  the  Zuyder  Zee,  everywhere 
circulate  the  boats  which  carry  the  great  national  coni- 
bihstible.       I:]xhausted  peat- fields  are  converted  into  mea- 


404  HOLLAND. 

dows^  vegetable  gn,rclens_,  fertile  oases.  Assen,  the  capital 
city  of  the  Dreuta,  is  the  centre  of  all  this  work  of  trans- 
formation. A  great  canal,  into  which  run  all  the 
smaller  canals  of  the  peat  district,  extends  almost  entirely 
across  the  Dreuta  from  Assen  as  far  as  the  town  of 
Meppel.  Everywhere  they  are  working  to  bring  the  land 
under  tillage.  The  po})ulation  of  the  province,  which 
counted  a  little  more  than  thirty  thousand  at  the  end  of 
the  last  century,  is  now  almost  three  times  that  number. 

Beyond  Meppel  you  enter  the  province  of  Over-Yssel, 
which  for  a  certain  distance  presents  much  the  same  aspect 
as  that  of  the  Dreuta — underbrush,  peat  swamps,  and  soli- 
tude; and  you  arrive  in  a  short  time  at  a  village,  if  village 
it  can  be  called,  the  strangest  that  the  human  mind  can 
conceive.  It  consists  of  a  row  of  rustic  cottages,  with 
wooden  fronts  and  thatched  roofs,  which  succeed  one  an- 
other, at  a  certain  distance  from  each  other,  for  the  length 
of  more  than  eight  kilometres,  planted  each  upon  a 
narrow  bank  of  earth  which  extends  as  far  as  the  eve  can 
see,  and  surrounded  by  a  ditch  full  of  water-plants,  upon 
whose  edge  rise  groups  of  alders,  poplars,  and  willow^s. 
The  inhabitants  of  this  village,  which  is  divided  into  two 
1  arts,  called  respectively,  Rouveen  and  Staphorst,  are 
the  descendants  of  two  ancient  Frisian  colonies,  who 
have  religiously  preserved  the  costume,  manners,  and 
traditions  of  their  forefathers,  and  live  at  ease  on  the 
produce  of  their  lands  and  some  small  manufactures 
peculiar  to  the  place.  In  this  singular  village  there  are 
no  cafes  and  no  streets,  because  their  ancestors  had  not 
th(^  former,  and  for  the  latter  there  is  no  need,  the  houses 


FROM  GBONINGEN  TO  ABNHEM,  405 

being  all  planted  in  one  long  row.  Tlie  inhabitants  are 
all  Calvinists^  sober,  austere,  and  laborious.  The  men  knit 
their  own  stockings  in  the  intervals  of  time  when  not 
occupied  in  the  cultivation  of  the  ground  ;  and  such  is 
their  abliorrence  of  idleness,  that  when  they  meet  in 
council  to  deliberate  upon  the  affairs  of  the  village,  each 
man  brings  his  knitting,  in  order  not  to  have  his  hands 
unoccupied  during  the  discussion.  The  commune  pos- 
sesses six  thousand  hectares  of  land,  divided  into  nine 
hundred  zones,  or  strips,  about  five  thousand  yards  in 
length  and  thirty  in  width.  Almost  all  the  inhabitants 
are  proprietors,  can  read  and  write,  have  a  horse  and 
eight  or  ten  cows,  never  leave  their  colony,  marry  where 
they  are  born,  pass  their  lives  upon  the  same  spot  of 
ground,  and  close  their  eyes  under  the  same  roof  where 
their  fathers,  grandfathers,  and  great-grandfathers  lived 
and  died. 

As  you  go  on  beyond  Over-Yssel  the  country  changes 
its  aspect.  Near  ZvoUe,  the  native  town  of  the  painter 
Lerburg,  capital  of  the  province,  with  about  twenty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  there  are  fine  roads,  bordered  by  trees, 
which  refresh  the  eye  after  the  bare  and  dreary  country 
you  have  just  traversed.  Here,  in  the  little  convent  of 
St.  Agnes,  lived  and  died,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four, 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  the  reputed  author  of  the  "  Imitation 
of  Jesus  Christ.^' 

On  every  side  now  the  brambly  waste  recedes,  giving 
place  to  patches  of  verdure,  fields  and  meadows,  and 
new  plantations ;  houses  rise,  herds  of  cattle  are  seen,  and 
new  canals  run    from  the  peat  swamps    to  a  great    one 


406  HOLLAND. 

called  the  Dedemsvaart^  the  main  artery  of  Over-Yssel, 
"Nvhich  has  transformed  the  desolate  country  into  a 
flourishing  province,  where  an  industrious  population  ad- 
vances like  a  victorious  army,  where  the  poor  find  work, 
the  laborer  becomes  a  proprietor,  the  proprietor  grows 
rich,  and  all  have  the  hope  of  a  prosperous  future.  From 
hence,  the  road,  following  the  course  of  the  Yssel,  enters 
Salland,  the  Sala  of  the  ancients,  where  dwelt  the  Franco- 
Salii  before  going  south  to  the  conquest  of  Gaul,  where 
the  Salique  law  originated,  at  Saleheim  and  Windcheim, 
which  still  exist  under  the  names  of  Salk  and  Windes- 
heim,  and  where  agricultural  traditions  and  customs  of 
those  antique  times  are  still  existent.  Finally  the  road 
reaches  Deventer,  the  last  town  in  Over-Yssel,  the  city  of 
James  Gronovius,  of  carpets  and  ginger-bread,  which 
still  preserves,  in  one  of  its  public  halls,  the  boiler  in 
which  counterfeiters  were  boiled  alive,  and  which  rejoices 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  castle  of  Loo,  the  lavurite 
residence  of  the  King  of  Holland.  Beyond  Dcventer 
begins  the  province  of  Gueldres. 

Here  the  spectacle  changes.  You  are  skirting  the 
land  inhabited  by  the  ancient  Saxons,  the  Veluwe,  a 
sandy  region  extending  between  the  Ptliiue,  the  Yssel, 
and  the  Zuyder  Zee,  where  a  few  villages  are  scattered 
here  and  there  over  an  undulating  plain,  like  a  tempes- 
tuous sea.  Wherever  the  eye  turns  it  sees  nothing  but 
arid  hills,  the  most  distant  veiled  in  a  blueish  mist,  the 
ochers  in  part  darkened  by  a  wild  vegetation,  in  part 
white  with  the  shifting  sands  which  the  wind  spreads  over 
the    face  of    the    country.     There    arc  no  trees  and    no 


FROM  GEONINGEN  TO  ABNREM.  4  7 

houses;  all  is  solitary,  bare,  dreary  as  a  steppe  in  Tar- 
tary ;  and  the  friglitful  silence  of  these  solitudes  is  only 
broken  by  the  song  of  the  lark  and  the  mnrniur  of  the 
bee.  Yet  in  some  portions  of  this  region  the  Dutch 
people,  with  their  patient  courage,  and  at  the  cost  of  in- 
finite labor,  have  succeeded  in  making  the  pine,  the  beech, 
and  the  oak  grow ;  they  have  even  formed  fine  parks 
and  have  created  complete  groves,  covering  with  nsr^ul 
plants,  in  less  than  thirty  years,  more  than  ten  thousand 
hectares  of  land,  and  raising  populous  and  flourishing 
villa2:es  where  there  was  neither  wood  nor  stone  nor 
water,  and  where  the  first  settlers  were  obliged  to  shelter 
themselves  in  caves  dug  out  of  the  ground  and  covered 
with  turf. 

The  road  passes  near  the  city  of  Zutphcn  and  soon 
reaches  Arnhem,  the  capital  of  Gucldres,  a  pretty  and 
notable  town  posted  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine,  in  a 
region  covered  with  lovely  hills  which  have  earned  for  it 
the  name  of  the  Dutch  Switzerland,  and  inhabited  bv  a 
people  who  have  the  reputation  of  being  the  most  poetic 
in  Holland,  according  to  the  proverb  which  describes 
them  as  ■'  Great  in  courage,  poor  in  purse,  sword  in 
hand/^  But  a  traveller  from  the  south  of  Europe  finds 
here  nothing-  remarkable  either  in  the  country  or  its 
inhabitants  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  Limburg  and 
Southern  Brabant,  the  only  two  produces  of  Holland 
which  I  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  visit.  So  after 
seeing  Arnhem  I  left  for  Cologne.  The  sky  was  darker 
and  lower  than  it  had  been  throusrhout  the  day,  and  I. 
though  at  heart  glad  to  return  to  Italy,  felt  the  weight  of 


408  "  HOLLAND. 

the  depressing  atmosphere,  and,  leaning  on  the  window 
of  the  carriage,  looked  silently  at  the  landscape,  more  like 
one  who  was  leaving  his  native  country  than  one  who  was 
departing  from  a  foreign  land.     I  found  myself  close  to 
the  German  frontier  almost  without  consciousness  of  the 
distance  1  had  passed  over,   and  roused  by  the  voice  of 
another  traveller,  looked  about   me  and  saw  a   windmill, 
by  which  I  knew  that  we  were  still  in  Holland.     But  the 
land,  the  vegetation,  the  form  of  the  houses,  the  language 
of  my  travelling  companions,  were  no  longer  the  same.     I 
turned  to  that  windmill  as  the  last  image  of  Holland,  and 
contemplated  it  with  much  the  same  interest  as  that  with 
which  I  had  greeted  the  first,  seen  one  year  before  on  the 
banks  o£  the  Scheldt.     As  I  gazed,  something  seemed  to 
be  moving  with  it  in  the  circle  of  its  mighty  wings.     My 
heart  beat  more  quickly.     I  looked  again,  and  saw  the 
flags  of  ships,  the  tree-bordered  canals,  the  pointed  gables 
of  houses,  the  flower-decked  windows,  the  silver  helmets, 
the  livid  sea,  the  downs,  the  fishermen  of  Scheveningen, 
Rembrandt,  William   of  Orange,  Erasmus,  Barendz,  my 
friends,  and  all  the  most  beautiful   and   noble  images  of 
that  glorious,  modest,  and  austere  country  ;   and  as  if  I 
beheld  them    in   reality,  I    kept  my  eyes  fixed,  with   a 
sentiment  of  respect  and  tenderuess,  upon  the  windaull, 
until  it  appeared   a   black  cross   through  the  mist   which 
covered  the  landscape ;  and  when   even  that  vision    hud 
disappeared,  I  felt  like  one  who  departs  upon  a  journey 
from  which  he  shall  never  return,  and   sees  the  free  of 
his  last  friend  grow  dim  and  vanish  on  the  shore. 

V 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 
on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


APR  2  8  1957 


22;vir. 


JB2St 


«=rt-xrxu 


JUN  Ji3  1962 


>».•-,,> 


LD  21-100m-6,'56 
(B9311sl0)476 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


LIBRARY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  BEFORE  CLOSING  TIME 
ON  LAST  DATE  STAMPED  BELOW 

- 

1 
1 

RF/-  -"  '  ° 

MI\R5    '65 -4PM 

LD  62A-50m-2,'64 
(E3494sl0)9412A 

General  Library 

University  of  Califoroia 

Berkeley 

